My walking map of Columbia Missouri

How to navigate Columbia

Sep 21, 2024

Welcome to my walking map of Columbia!

Some time ago I started taking long walks around Columbia, walking out my front door on a Saturday morning, and returning late afternoon having completed an increasingly lengthy loop around the city. It was great fun, but came with its challenges.

One challenge was that the maps available to me were limited or inadequate. Google maps misses things and suggests you walk in unpleasent places, the official city of Columbia trails map is basically useless, AllTrails, only has trails. Nothing did what I wanted it to do.

I needed something that linked city sidewalks to park trails, and showed the only way through a suburb. I also wanted something that showed me where I could stop and take a rest, and that wasn't too daunting to use. I imagined something reminiscent of the cross country ski area maps I grew up using, but for the modern American pedestrian. Despite an almost complete lack of knowledge or ability, I decided to make my own map.

I started to record my walks in the hope that a natural route network of the best routes would start to emerge. This has largely worked, the map is helpful. It is a good way (sometimes the best way) to navigate Columbia on foot. All routes marked on the map have been personally walked by me. The approach has drawbacks, it takes forever to add terrain and remains biased by the places I tend to start from and the places I tend to go.

At this point the project is incomplete, but it is useable and it is useful. If I was a software person I would say it was in beta or alpha, or something else Greek and suggestive of incompletion. A more detailed post on navigation will hopefully follow at some point, but I find the map most useful for sketching out the next hour or so of a walk. Particularly when trying to link together different terrain types, park paths, trails and sidewalks.

Terrain Types: For now I have classified the terrain in the following categories.

Sidewalks (Blue)
Path (Orange)
Trail (Gold/Yellow)
Street (Dark Blue)
Road (Dashed Black)
Wild (Dashed Gold)
Inside or covered (Dashed Bright Yellow)

Delineation

Path vs. Trail

Trails are rougher than paths. Paths are more likely to be smoother, wider, and more amenable to cyclists and other forms of wheeled transportation. Paths are sometimes paved, while trails will not be.

Street vs. Road

Streets are mostly sidewalkless neighborhood streets. These typically are fine for walking and have minimal traffic. Roads are much busier, or have faster traffic and walking on them typically involves often using the shoulder if one exits. Roads should be used with some caution, and are therefore marked in black with a dashed line. Dark blue (street) is also used to indicate parking lots.

Wild

Wild indicates routes with no path. This does not necessarily include difficult terrain. (A cut across a grassy park or soccer field counts), but it might (a splash across a river also counts).

Points of Interest

Points of interest will appear if you zoom in. Currently these include: Restrooms, drinking fountains, benches, trashcans, and tables. I've been a little lax with updating this (there is a software issue I need to figure out). Cautions are noted by an exclamation point in a triangle, typically these are unmarked crossings, or other places where one ought to be extra careful of cars.

Limitations

This map is a work in progress and it does not completely cover Columbia. Hopefully It will continue to evolve and improve. I make no guarantee of accuracy or anything else, use this map at your own risk and always use your own best judgment when out in the world.

Feedback

Please try the map and let me know if you found it useful. If you find the project interesting and would like to help improve the map, please let me know as well.

Happy Walking!

-Chris

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