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The hardest part for us has been accumulating data and trying to make it coherent. A problem with a lot of the East coast in general is the data is controlled

The hardest part for us has been accumulating data and trying to make it coherent. A problem with a lot of the East coast in general is the data is controlled by the states and each state has multiple districts that manage the parks. Unfortunately we aren't able to commit to anything meaningful other than to say, we are working on data every day. Right now most of what you'll see is Federal lands.

vwcx 11y ago
For me, the state and sub-agency control of information about their own parks is what makes it valuable to me. While planning a recent week camping in CO and WY, I learned that most of the aggregated information I was finding from general hiking sites (even stuff like trails.com) was outdated. Surprisingly, the National Forest Service sites ("optimized for IE 6!") contained information accurate to a few weeks. I'm also a little thrown off by Topiphi's heavy focus on "Permits" on each National Park page. For every park I'm trying, it points me to the "America the Beautiful" annual pass. Sure, while that pass would get me through the entrance gates, there are numerous other one-day, one-week, senior citizen and corporate passes that also given me access to the park. The majority of casual users aren't likely to be looking to buy each family member an $80 NPS annual pass, so I'd like to see more info there.
- thecaddy1 11y ago
  Working on this the past couple months there has definitely been a lot of conflict over what is valuable or not valuable. As a backpacker myself, the most frustrating part was not knowing where to start looking for this stuff. When we started using topophi ourselves to find the rangers and forests we needed to check for regulations, thats when we thought, well maybe someone else will find this useful. But back to your comment, totally agree, we need better information.

vwcx 11y ago

For me, the state and sub-agency control of information about their own parks is what makes it valuable to me. While planning a recent week camping in CO and WY, I learned that most of the aggregated information I was finding from general hiking sites (even stuff like trails.com) was outdated. Surprisingly, the National Forest Service sites ("optimized for IE 6!") contained information accurate to a few weeks. I'm also a little thrown off by Topiphi's heavy focus on "Permits" on each National Park page. For every park I'm trying, it points me to the "America the Beautiful" annual pass. Sure, while that pass would get me through the entrance gates, there are numerous other one-day, one-week, senior citizen and corporate passes that also given me access to the park. The majority of casual users aren't likely to be looking to buy each family member an $80 NPS annual pass, so I'd like to see more info there.

thecaddy1 11y ago
Working on this the past couple months there has definitely been a lot of conflict over what is valuable or not valuable. As a backpacker myself, the most frustrating part was not knowing where to start looking for this stuff. When we started using topophi ourselves to find the rangers and forests we needed to check for regulations, thats when we thought, well maybe someone else will find this useful. But back to your comment, totally agree, we need better information.