Nature Trails and Routes – Instituto Politécnico de Coimbra

Base Knowledge

Students are expected to apply the knowledge acquired at UC Geographic Information Systems fluently.
Students are expected to apply the knowledge acquired in UC Ecosystems Ecology into the planning of trails, in order to recognize threats to the environment and reduce the impact on the environment of the implementation of the trail and that of the route activity.
Students are expected to apply the knowledge acquired at UC Adventure Tourism and Nature Sports into the planning of trails, in order to recognize threats to visitor safety and manage the means that balance safety and tourist experience.
Students are expected to apply the knowledge acquired in the UC Sustainability and Social Responsibility in Tourism into the planning of trails and routes, in order to recognize the generation of threats to the traversed rural environments and the potential added value generated by their sustainable and responsible use.

Presentations, photographs, and construction schemes are used to acquire the knowledge necessary to understand the interest of tourist trails in Nature, to detect the environmental, personal and social security problems arising from their implementation and to select solutions. The sharing of user experience is encouraged, promoting debate.
It is exemplified the use of algorithms to assess interest, difficulty, accessibility and limits of use and the knowledge is applied to practical situations.
The regulations and usual procedures for the implementation of a pedestrian route are presented, as well as the solutions found in Portugal and some other countries. Photographs and case studies are used, encouraging discussion and sharing of user experience.
The acquisition of execution capacity is built through the development of an individual project for the implementation of a pedestrian route to be approved, using geographic information systems, georeferencing systems and several databases.
A field trip makes it possible to contextualize and verify in situ some issues and solutions.
The evaluation is designed to measure the technical knowledge acquired and the degree of fulfilment of each competence.

To know the procedures and alternatives for the planning, construction, maintenance and homologation.
To perform all necessary procedures to design a pedestrian trail, to carry out or guide construction and maintenance activities.
To plan and implement actions that evaluate the performance of parameters determining the route quality.
To know the requirements and regulations applicable to multi-use shared trails and to the competition activities or recreational in motor vehicles.
To debate the advantages and disadvantages of this type of interventions and activities for the tourism industry and for Nature.
To understand the motives for interest on nature paths, their impacts and examples of implementation in Portugal and in the world.

Contextualization: What is a trail and a route; Importance of a functional definition of trail corridor. Trail marking and route signage.
Approval, registration, and advertisement for trails and routes: The action of FCMP; Other regulatory bodies in Portugal. Situation in other countries.
Trail uses. Pedestrian trail (route). Multipurpose trails: problems and solutions. Cycling and equestrian paths; Motor vehicles and competition. Economic, social, and environmental balance of the existence and use of nature trails.
Trail construction: safety, construction, and signage, equipment and materials, maintenance.
Trail construction operations: Trail corridor delimitation; Trail way cleaning; Trail bed consolidation; Building for safety, sustainability, usability, and accessibility; Guidance and informative/interpretative signage; Maintenance schedule.
Quality assessment: Safety and sustainability; Usability and accessibility. User satisfaction.
Trails and Routes in Portugal.

Route project. POI selection, touristic potential assessment, objective definition, routes and trail selection, information gathering on resources and limitations. Point selection; Terrain Interpretation in maps and photographs; Tracing of routes and altitudinal profiles; Map and GPS based marking activities. Analysis of sustainability, usability, and accessibility. Activities planning and cost evaluation.

NAO

See Portuguese version.