Guest Author: Jay Kolbet-Clausell, Reno-Sparks Neighborhoods Volunteer Developer

Let’s do a scavenger hunt for our parks. We have many distinct jurisdictions managing parks including the City of Reno, City of Sparks, and Washoe County. They each have their own staff and record keeping methods. It’s no secret that our relationships with government are changing. Leaders in our community must embrace the vast amount of work that needs to be done to bring public records into the 21st century. Government employees and private groups will need to invest resources to build these new civic systems.



The City of Reno worked with a small group of hackers to tackle Reno park data. They released a spreadsheet that fed to a map with park amenities. When they released the draft and were featured in the RGJ, the visual inspired me to join the project, to recruit help, and to request more park data. The first time I helped use the data was at the October Hack4Reno on the Reno Tracks bicycle app.



Since Sparks and Washoe County are entwined with Reno, It looked like someone had taken a bite out of the northeast corner, picked along the river, and chewed around the edges. The map did not inspire the kind of exploring we hoped to encourage, so our Hack4Reno team reached out to Sparks and Washoe County Parks and Rec. We also noticed that the GPS locations were based on address rather than satellite imagery so many park markers were blocks to miles from their actual location.

Thus began a two month research project. Every time I found a new volunteer, I saw the data and the process in a new way. We modified the project to make it easier to participate in response. Color coding, shifting geeky aspects away from the raw information, and maintaining communication with government employees when we could not find what we needed or had a breakthrough. The vast majority of work was labor intensive data entry and validation. Volunteers corrected each latitude and longitude figure manually and entered pdf scans into the same spreadsheet format as the Reno Data. A few columns were added to account for Sparks amenities with a miscellaneous catchall tacked to the end.

As the project progressed, individual volunteers were stunned at the cumulative result. This positive energy can be tapped into for other regional projects. Standardization can be controlling or inviting. Controlling projects demand conformance without an obvious benefit and turn participants away. Inviting projects are understandable and welcoming to the whole valley. Inviting projects also build on agency strengths to reduce the staff workload in our neighboring jurisdictions.

We were welcomed into the process because we did not demand for data to be released the way we wanted it. We asked for public records that were ready to go and worked together to make them easier and more accurate for all to use. As this process matures, we can give our government staff tools to help them work more efficiently and benefit from the same innovations that are revolutionizing the private sector.

Cheers and go explore all your neighborhood parks!

Learn how-to get involved with the Reno-Sparks Neighborhoods Regional Parks Map