The current political climate is messy these days, especially as it concerns public lands in Utah. The Trump administration slashed climate change funding. Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, is attempting to scale back National Monuments. So Utah’s outdoor enthusiasts are fighting back with Mountain Hub’s Data for Good initiative.
WHAT MOUNTAIN HUB’S DATA FOR GOOD?
Mountain Hub is a community-fueled, information-sharing platform. Outdoor users upload their trip reports to the app to track their routes and share trail conditions. What Data for Good does, is gather all the publicly shared data to help conservation groups, avalanche centers, universities, and scientists on a variety of initiatives. These can include public lands conservation, improvements to water flow prediction, and enhancing our understanding of behavior in avalanche terrain.
“At its core, Mountain Hub has always been about enabling good for the outdoor community,” says Brint Markle, co-founder and CEO of Mountain Hub. “Through the Data for Good initiative, Mountain Hub users not only contribute to the safety and knowledge of fellow mountain travelers, but also to the protection and care of the playgrounds where they recreate.”
“We are extremely excited to team up with Mountain Hub,” says Erik Murdock, Outdoor Alliance Global Information Systems lab director. “More high-quality data from our community results in better analyses, and better analyses result in a better future for human-powered recreation on our public lands.”
Mountain Hub snowpack observations and trip reports also directly support avalanche centers around the world. Users gather map-based, real-time information. Through social features, Mountain Hub members can share reports with any avalanche center. Some organizations, such as the Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center, have directly integrated with Mountain Hub.
Mountain Hub crowd-sourced data also helps numerous trail organizations identify locations of downed trees, washouts, or other issues. During the Summer of 2017, Grand Teton National Park used Mountain Hub to alert users of climbing conditions on the Grand Teton.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Download the latest version of Mountain Hub to your smartphone, and use it when you recreate. This week Mountain Hub released a host of new features that strengthen the community-oriented nature of this app. Users can now comment and “like” others’ trip and observation reports. You can also re-share directly to social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or via text or email.
Download the latest version of the app in the iTunes store or Google Play to contribute to Mountain Hub’s Data For Good initiative.