MAKING TRACKS: CREATING VIRTUAL NATURAL HISTORY FIELD GUIDES FOR THE NATURE RESERVES AND NATIONAL PARKS OF BERMUDA

Bermuda is an island nation with an abundance of national parks and nature reserves that resound with natural beauty. However, other than location and reviews, very little public information is readily available for visitors and residents to understand the natural history of Bermuda. In an effort to remedy this situation, a collaborative effort has been undertaken to develop virtual field guides that will be available to the public for use on smart phones via Google Earth and eventually ArcGIS.

The project began with focus on the parks and reserves that had the highest visitation and the most variation in geologic features. Spittal Pond Nature Reserve, Cooper’s Island Nature Reserve and Walsingham Reserve/Blue Hole National Park were the first areas mapped. Mapping was started by students walking the trails in the park and tracking their movement with GPS units. As the trails were mapped, digital images captured the various biological and geological features in each park. These features included bird watching sites, caves and karst topography, coastal erosion, rock types, lithologic units and the dominant flora and fauna. At each feature photographed, a waypoint was also registered on the GPS unit.

Following creation of the trail maps, waypoints and illustrations, each was imported to Google Earth. This required creating a data base of digital images that had their own url. At each of the waypoints, placemarks were created for them. The digital images were then inserted into the placemark and text describing the illustrated feature added.

The resultant virtual field guides are now ready to be tested and situated on a dedicated website for easy access. Since this initial effort, Cooper’s Island Nature Reserve, Ferry Point National Park, Great Head National Park, Little Head National Park, and Devonshire National Park have been added with the goal of offering a better understanding of the natural history of Bermuda to the students working on the project and others who are interested.