New Web site locates all California recreational sites

By Bob Difley

California State Parks and GreenInfo Network have published a press release called “Best Web Site Ever for Recreation Seekers.” The site, with 3D Interactive Maps, High-Resolution Aerial Images, and more, is claimed to have the largest detailed inventory of recreation sites in the country.

The Web site will make it “dramatically easier for the public to find and get to any kind of open-space and recreational lands in the Golden State.” The FindRecreation web site contains data on everything from federal wilderness areas to neighborhood parks, along with interactive maps and searching.

“We designed FindRecreation to enable people to find parks near home,” said Ruth Coleman, director of California State Parks. “We hope Californians will discover the natural wonders of this state, have fun, get some exercise and feel better.”

When you enter your location information (address, zip code, etc.) the site will show a detailed map or aerial image of  “every recreational opportunity in the area” along with driving directions, trails, an interactive 3D map (Google Earth), and high resolution images (Bing maps).

For RVers, the site will also show detailed locations of over 1,300 public campgrounds in California

The park and open space areas shown are part of the California Protected Areas Database (CPAD), which has data on over 15,000 named parks in the state, totaling over 49 million acres and owned by 860 different public agencies and non-governmental organizations. CPAD is the most comprehensive open space inventory ever created for California and is the largest detailed inventory of its kind in the nation (more at CALands.org).

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