2. Why a Trail App? A 2011 Northwoods traveler study found that people who visited the Northwoods made an average of 20 trips to the area Travelers who had never visited the area believed the area was just for snowmobiling and fishing Those same travelers selected hiking, biking and relaxing as their top travel activities

3. Why a Trail App? Many of these travelers represented a younger travel demographic Vilas County is home to over 50 trails and over 240,000 acres of public land An education process was necessary to inform travelers of the Vilas County offerings

4. Northwoods Travelers A comprehensive map and trail app project begins

5. Goals of The Project Show travelers the variety of trails and activities Vilas County offers Give travelers easy access to trail information Provide a reason for travelers to explore the whole county Educate travelers that there is a trail that suits their interests in Vilas County Increase traveler stays—through length of visit and repeat visits

6. Project Funding An application was written for a Joint Effort Marketing (JEM) grant through the Wisconsin Department of Tourism The grant was approved for the first year of the project A second year of funding was approved last week to continue the project

7. What we needed before we began

8. Trail Search Criteria Activity Length of trail Pets allowed Disabled access Trail/parking pass required Community name is not a criteria factor.......................................................

9. Nuts and Bolts (app structure) Objective C in Xcode (Apple’s software for building iOS applications). Shell: trails and filtering system Trail information and a static map housed on the vilas.org website, outside the app. Can be updated at any point without updating the app........................................................

10. The App Store Process Need an Apple Developer account Review Apple’s strict guidelines Digitally sign the app Compile the app with Xcode Submit to the App Store Wait for review (review usually takes around 2 weeks) Map It Vilas County is available as a free download

11. Phase II Provide user with the ability to use an interactive map of each trail ArcGIS mapping platform When the user selects a trail, it can be displayed in the app using its longitude and latitude Display the user’s current location in relation to the trail. Ability to zoom in and zoom out to see all of the trails Vilas County has to offer.......................................................

12. Thank you!