outdoorsy-nerds

DISCLAIMER (2025):
This post describes a small demo I built in 2015 using the USDA Recreation Information Database (RIDB) API and Mapzen services. Both the RIDB API and Mapzen Search have since been discontinued, so the live demo no longer functions. I’m keeping the write-up online for historical interest — a snapshot of early-days web mapping experiments that relied on services that no longer exist.

Come git it outdoorsy nerds! Recreation facilities for all (developers)!

The Recreation Information Database (RIDB) is “a comprehensive database containing authoritative outdoor recreation facility information for most US federal agencies that provide recreation services including the National Park Service, US Forest Service and many, many others.”

I’ve been following the progress since its inception, and when the USDA came out with an API to access it, I dove in and made a web map to explore recreation facilities directly from a map.

The application is pretty straightforward. You can pan and zoom the map and recreation facilities will be displayed with recognizable icons based on the current extent. If the zoom level is far out, the app uses a predefined radius based on zoom level. Clustering keeps things tidy. I also used the Mapzen Search service along with the Mapzen Leaflet Geocoder to provide autocomplete search capability.

Give it a try here:
http://dev.brightrain.com/recreationer/

Source project:
https://github.com/brightrain/ridb-recreationer

The Services:

• Recreation Information Database API
• Mapzen Search (geocoding API)

The Stack:

• Leaflet
• Leaflet marker cluster
• Mapzen Leaflet geocoder
• Leaflet locate control
• Mapbox (for basemap)