Mimi Reagler and Natalie Comstock, Hot Springs Junior Academy ninth-graders, recently won the 2021 GoMap Twenty-One competition.
The competition is sponsored by the EAST Geospatial Support Team at CAST and rewards the use of the ArcGIS platform, according to the GoMap website.
"EAST students can build their individual 'mapping scores' by expanding their mapping knowledge or publishing web maps and data collection surveys within the ArcGIS platform," it said.
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According to the website, Reagler and Comstock used teamwork to complete an "impressive amount of ArcGIS online training, coordinate with local leadership and then built several interactive maps of the Northwoods Trails system near Hot Springs, AR. Their ArcGIS StoryMaps, web maps and ArcGIS Hub website share these impressive mountain bike trails with the rest of the world!"
Reagler said she felt relieved when she and Comstock won the competition because they worked on it for three years, building several interactive maps of the Northwoods Trails system by using an app called Strava.
Reagler said a lot of runners use Strava to track their runs, noting the app puts where the runner is running on a map.
"What I don't think people know is it is making a GPS file. Every 2 or so feet, it puts down a data point," she said.
"We've been putting it in the ArcGIS Hub website. We've been putting all the information into one place. These past years, we've been collecting the data and figuring out the best way to use the data," Reagler said.
"When you put it into a computer, you get to figure out what it looks like," she said.
Reagler said Strava is a very sensitive app, noting if an individual decides to cross the street and go in a zigzag pattern, the line sometimes looks rocky, but you can go back and move every data point to make the trail look smooth so it will match up online and on paper.
"We worked well as a team together (to) put everything together (for) our map. ... We spend after hours at school, out of school to do everything," Comstock said.
Comstock created a story map so users can learn about the individual trails, and Reagler created the filterable map, so they can find the trail that best fits their needs and find more information about the trail.
"I think one of the reasons we won was because we had so many different map options; instead of what normal people submitted, which was maybe two maps," Reagler said.
"We had like six, which I think helped in the long run, though it did make it a lot harder to manage because they judge on all the reading and the writing," she said.
"Teamwork was important for this competition because it allowed us to get more done within a quick time period because we each had our own maps to work on," Comstock said.
"We got them done when we needed to. We kept each other accountable for our things and everything that needed to be done before the deadlines," she said.
"We could not have done six maps without teamwork," Reagler said.
Comstock and Reagler are currently working on mapping other trials in Hot Springs and have a QR code for anyone who would like to view their maps.
