Case Study: United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service achieves sub‑meter accurate mapping and monitoring of user‑created campsites with Trimble GPS solutions

USDA Forest Service Monitors User-Created Campsites with Mapping GPS Technology

The USDA Forest Service’s Uinta‑Wasatch‑Cache National Forest, a heavily visited 2.2 million‑acre recreation area in northern Utah, needed to locate and monitor dispersed user‑created campsites to protect natural resources and manage recreational use. Forest managers required spatially accurate campsite locations and consistent attribute data so they could revisit sites, assess impacts, and develop long‑term management strategies.

Field teams used Trimble GeoXT/GeoXH handheld GPS units with TerraSync and GPS Pathfinder Office, creating an ESRI‑compatible data dictionary to ensure consistent, high‑integrity data. Over several weeks they mapped 558 campsites with submeter accuracy, captured geotagged photos and 360° panoramas, and linked media to ArcGIS—producing a field‑based GIS that improved monitoring, informed planning and education efforts, and set the stage to expand inventories and resource protection.

United States Department of Agriculture

T.C. Christensen

Field Crew Member