Mapping the Kakkaristra Gorge trail route

An important artefact for visitors and tourists is the overview guide map of an area while it provides navigation material, visual information related to a specific area and general understanding of the landscape.

Geoimaging ltd produces custom guide maps for recreation or preserved areas, such as nature trails, parks, building complexes, amenities, sightseeing in cities etc. The guide maps provide quickly and easily information for any hiking and outdoor enthusiast including; safety tips, park use conditions, parking areas, topographic anaglyph, key facilities, route distances, detailed route notes, warning signs, road addresses, recommendation about the area and other features.

Example of such a work is the production of a visitor-guide map of the Kakkaristra-Apalos gorge trail in Latsia, Nicosia. Geoimaging ltd, based on its many-years experience in surveying, mapping and GIS services was assigned by Latsia Municipality to carry out the production of a guide map which would then be placed on a trailhead kiosk in the starting point of the path route.

The first step was to define the trail route by delimitating it using a GPS receiver. Our personnel walked along the path to track the route and to place surveying stakes to mark out the trail boundaries. The mapping of the trail was achieved with a millimeter accuracy. The next step was to generate the orthophoto-background of the map. To achieve this, our experienced team used high-tech UAV drone to capture the overview area of the site. The flight was operated at a low height in order to yield unique and very high-resolution imagery on which every detail of the site area can be seen. The set of the aerial photographs was then processed properly, georeferenced and ortho-rectified to produce an orthomosaic. Additionally, point descriptive information about special locations along the trail was collected such as viewpoints, fossiliferous horizons, benches, an amphitheater etc. Then all spatial data were stored in a GIS database where they combined, manipulated and analyzed properly to form