This trail dataset was collected and ground-truthed by NYC Parks staff between 2015 through the present using a handheld Trimble GPS unit. The data is meant to represent the trails found on the ground within, and sometimes near, Parks' Forever Wild areas. Not all trails explicitly fall directly on property owned by NYC Parks.

Trail STATUS may be designated as:

OFFICIAL TRAIL – This trail has been deemed an official, maintained trail and will remain open.

PROPOSED OFFICIAL TRAIL – Trails that are proposed to be official, but a final decision has not yet been made.

UNDECIDED – The trail is currently open and a decision has not yet been made to make it official or to close it

PROPSED DESIRE LINE CLOSURE – Trails that are proposed to be flagged for closure, but a final decision has not yet been made.

TO BE CLOSED – The trail is currently open and a decision HAS been made to eventually close it.

CLOSED – This trail should be closed. Efforts have been made to close this trail.

The Trail CLASS field defines the class of trail based on the US Forest Service Trail Matrix.

The SURFACE field contains the surface type of the trail.

The GENERAL_TOPOG field describes the general topography of the trail.

The HORSE field describes if the trail is conducive to riding horses on it.

The BIKE field describes if the trail is conducive to riding bicycles on it.

The VEHICLE_ACC field describes if a trail could reasonably accommodate a vehicle, work, emergency or otherwise.

The HANDICAP_ACC field describes if a trail could reasonably accommodate the handicap.

The DIFFICULTY field describes the approximate difficulty level of the trail.

This remains a work in progress with updates to geometry, attributes and additional trail data collected at irregular intervals.