Global positioning and geographical information systems

Parks and national institutions all over the world have realized the benefits of using geographical information systems (GIS) to complement exploration route profiles, which enable them to monitor, maintain, and define intervention actions along those routes. To do this, it is necessary to combine global positioning systems (GPS) with a GIS to ensure position accuracy. In 2003, the authors helped survey an extended trekking route in a remote area of the Sagarmatha National Park, the national park of Mount Everest in the Himalayan range. The group joined the Changri Nup Glacier Monitoring Expedition under the auspices of the Italian Research Council (EV-K2-CNR project) and the Nepali National Research Institutes (Ronast). The research activity goal was to retrieve the geometrical profile of both the park routes and the tracks leading to the base camps of principal mountains and to develop a GIS for the park. This article presents the results from this trekking experience: the planning phase, the palmtop database design and methods of operation during the experience on the trail, and the incorporation of the data on a GIS Web site, as well as a recent history of route surveys and resources.