Roadway line features are optional features in the Statewide Trails Database used to place a trail system in context with nearby park roads or park entrance. They are very simple line features used to represent driveways, park roads, forest roads, and occasionally public roads on or along the public property where the trail system exists. Roadway line features are optional. They are not used for mapping bike routes. Trail line features are used for mapping bike routes.

To facilitate the management and sharing of information for trail mapping, management, planning, and information dissemination purposes. Roadway is a background layer of park and forest roads, driveways and nearby public roads that can be shown on detailed maps of individual parks.

Statewide Trails Database model version number 1.0. Refer to the Getting_Started.htm document for how to prepare and load existing trail data into the Statewide Trails Database format. A Statewide Trails extension (statewidetrails.avx) is also available for ArcView 3x software for creating identical field attributes in Shapefile format. The extension is useful in preparing data initially collected and maintained in Shapefile format for loading into GeoDatabase Feature Class format.

publication date

None. The data is in the public domain and may be redistributed.

No restrictions or legal prerequisites for using the data. Trail line feature information was prepared by collecting trail positions in the field using GPS equipment, digitizing trail maps, compiling information onto a planimetric correct base and digitizing, or by copying previously digitized road and trail centerline features. Horizontal accuracy varies depending on the methodology used to map and digitize each trail system. Consequently, as a whole, these data are generally not intended for maps printed at scales greater or more detailed than 1:24,000 scale (1 inch = 2,000 feet). Refer to the Horizontal Accuracy Notes attribute in the Trail line feature and Roadway line feature class for more specific horizontal accuracy assessments when mapping individual trail systems at larger (more accurate) scales. Trail Access point and Trail Interest point feature information was prepared using similar methods, with horizontal accuracy varying accordingly. Although this data set has been used by the State of Connecticut, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the State of Connecticut, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection as to the accuracy of the data and or related materials. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the State of Connecticut, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection in the use of these data or related materials. The user assumes the entire risk related to the use of these data. Once the data is distributed to the user, modifications made to the data by the user should be noted in the metadata. The State of Connecticut, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and all other Originators (referenced in the Citation section of this metadata), should be acknowledged as the data source in products derived from the trail data. For example, include the following data source description on a map: Trails - From the Connecticut Statewide Trails layer, compiled and published by CT DEEP and other trail data collecting agencies and organizations. Source map scale varies.

Table Relationships:

1. Roadway line features are joined to the Trail_System table via the TrailSysId field.

Attributes:

1. Trail System Id - Uniquely identifies a logical system of trails and is a common identifier found in all tables. All Trail line, Trail Access point, Trail Interest point, and Roadway line features for a given Trail System are assigned the same Trail System Id. An agency or organization wishing to provide trail data for inclusion in the Connecticut Statewide Trails Database must use Trail System Ids assigned by the State of Connecticut, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection so that they do conflict with Trail System Ids used by other trail data providers. Please contact the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection at 860-424-3540 to obtain a block of Trail Systems Ids for your use. Trail System Ids are allocated to data providers in blocks of 50. 

2. Field Types - Most fields are text fields except for Trail System Id (TrailSysId) and the Town Number (TownNo) field in the Trail Access Point feature class.

3. Text Fields - Most fields without domains are free-form text fields. Depending on the field, certain rules and conventions need to be applied when entering data in these fields. For example, the Trail Marker (TrailMark) field in the Trail line feature class is to be left blank if a trail is not marked. Do not populate the field with the words "unmarked" or "unblazed", for example. Leave all free-form text fields blank if information is not applicable.

4. Field Domain Range - Attribute domains represent a fixed list of values to choose from for a particular field. Domain values are case sensitive text field values that must be entered exactly as specified in the metadata enumerated domains. For example the Bike attribute uses a true-false domain that stores text information as either "True" or "False", not "TRUE" or "FALSE"; "true" or "false"; "yes" or "no", or 0 or -1, etc. Any value other than "True" or "False" is invalid, with the exception of the NULL option, which is a field value that is only available to data in GeoDatabase and not Shapefile format. Adhering to domain values is important to keep in mind when using the field Calculate option in ArcView 3x or ArcGIS 9x to assign domain attribute values to selected features at once. It is easy to inadvertently calculate values outside the range of a field's domain.

5. Default Values - The default domain values for each field is indicated in the metadata for the field such as "True" for the Hiking or "Unpaved" for the Trail Surface (TrailSurf) field in the Trail line feature class. These are the default values when adding new table records or digitizing new features.

6. Null Field Values - For fields with enumerated domains in GeoDatabase format, NULL is a valid domain value that can be used to signify information is unknown. NULL implies that the information is Unknown. It does not imply that the information is not applicable. 

7. Null Field Values (Shapefile format) - For fields with enumerated domains in Shapefile format, NULL is not a valid value so do not enter NULL or "NULL" even though NULL is allowed in GeoDatabase format. For data in Shapefile, leave the field blank if the value is unknown.

Simple line features used to represent driveways, park roads, forest roads, and occasionally public roads on or along the public property where the trail system exists. Roadway features are optional.

State of Connecticut, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and other trail data collecting agencies and organizations in Connecticut.

Roadway line features are very simple line features that connect to each other at their end points. Line features are expected to conform to the following topological rules. Lines are single part. There are no duplicate lines. Lines do not self overlap. Lines do not overlap other lines. Lines intersect only at nodes, and nodes anchor the ends of all lines. Lines do not overshoot or undershoot other lines they are supposed to meet and intersect. 

For example, a roadway intersection is composed of four intersecting roadway features that share a common end point location where the four features meet and intersect. A "T" intersection is composed of three intersecting roadway features that share a common end point.

Between intersections, a change in condition along the length of a road is also reason for creating separate Roadway line features where two features are necessary to describe where park road changes from a paved to gravel surface, for example.

Roadway lines do not duplicate or overlap in parallel to Trail line features. 

Single part line features that do not grossly self-intersect, intersect or overlap other single part line features are preferable. However, for reasons of practicality, minor gaps and overlaps are acceptable as long as they do not mask differences in roadway class or surface type, for example. The decision to accept small gaps and overlaps at the ends of line features is left to the professional judgment of the data collector and data provider (agency). 

Establishment of logical consistency was performed by the respective data collector (agencies) responsible for manually creating and controlling feature topology in either Shapefile or GeoDatabase format. No automated procedures or tests were performed to guarantee desired topology other than visual inspection.

As complete as data is collected by data collectors and supplied by data providers to the Statewide Trails Database. Because it is designed to include more and more information over time, the Statewide Trails Database does not represent a complete inventory of all greenways, trails, and bike routes. Rather, it is intended to be a Statewide repository of currently available information.

All attributes have valid values. Values are within defined domains. Accuracy tests performed by data collector and data provider.

Horizontal accuracy varies depending on the methodology used by data collectors to compile, map and digitize individual trail systems. Information was prepared by collecting trail positions in the field using GPS equipment, digitizing trail maps, compiling information onto a planimetric correct base and digitizing, or by copying previously digitized road and trail centerline features.

A conservative estimate of overall horizontal accuracy is based on the assumption that Trail line feature data is generally collected at scales that are at least as accurate as 1:24,000 scale (1 inch = 2,000 feet), which is the scale of the USGS 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle map. But this is only an assumption on the part of the State of Connecticut, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP), which coordinated the design of the Statewide Trails Database. For example, GPS data collected by CT DEEP is generally expected to be at 1-4m accuracy, data interpreted and digitized from 2004 aerial photographs at +- 20ft, and data derived from 1:24,000-scale road and trail centerlines at +- 40ft.

Refer to the Horizontal Accuracy Notes attribute in both the Trail line feature and Roadway line feature classes for more specific horizontal accuracy assessments when mapping individual trail systems at larger (more accurate) scales. This field describes the data collection method, data sources and horizontal accuracy of the individual line feature, based on the type of equipment and environmental conditions present if GPS was used to collect information in the field, or the horizontal accuracy of geo-referenced aerial photographs, maps, and existing road data upon which digitized trail features are based.

Connecticut Statewide Trails Database

Geographic information sytem (GIS), computer-aided drawing or other mapping software is necessary to display, view and access the information.

The data distributor does not provide custom GIS analysis or mapping services. Data is available in a standard format and may be converted to other formats, projections, coordinate systems, or selected for specific geographic regions by the party receiving the data.