When I joined the Anza Trail team in late 2023, we had information published on multiple sites: anzahistorictrail.org, nps.gov/juba, Flickr, YouTube, and webdeanza.org. The Anza Trail has historically had a very small team who needed to contract outside help to disseminate information, which led to hosting content on multiple sites.
We used to house most of our information, especially our interactive content, on anzahistorictrail.org. This site was originally created so that we could host rich media projects that were not supported by nps.gov at the time. The .org site offered more options for hosting our content, but having two separate yet similar sites that link back and forth to each other provided for a confusing user experience. We want our visitors to have one site they can go to for up-to-date information about the trail moving forward.
Now that the trail has a larger team and a dedicated media manager, we have more resources to update the information on nps.gov. Over time, nps.gov has also introduced many new features, so we can now create rich media content that used to only be an option on anzahistorictrail.org.
So far, we have built a new interactive map on nps.gov to replace the old interactive map on anzahistorictrail.org. We plan to move the expedition diaries to nps.gov, as well. The images that once lived on Flickr are also now hosted on nps.gov. We plan to migrate Modern Stories to nps.gov and will enhance that content with Dr. Bri Romanello’s Photovoice project that's currently in development. We are also overhauling the Places page to include information from the CMP and County Guides. This new page will include a map, and the content will also be accessible through the NPS app.
Centralizing our content on nps.gov not only provides for a better user experience, but it also makes updates easier, too. By building out our content using templates in our content management system, when updates are made to that system, our content will automatically be carried over into the newest format. As mentioned above, content that lives on nps.gov also feeds into the NPS app so visitors can access what they need whether at home or on the trail.
Feel free to reach out if there are changes that you feel need to be prioritized over others, and please let us know what you think of the changes so far!