My friend and former student Kevin Stanke recently shared his final project in the Master of Professional Studies program at the University of Minnesota Duluth. His work sets out to increase people’s connection to nature and to embolden bicycle use as a primary form of transportation. He’s given me permission to share it here.

According to Kevin:

My culminating project for my MPS project, Just Me, begins with a Google My Map which a user can view trail footage of bike trips. Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking of rides are captured by downloading GPX files through the Strava exercise tracking app and loaded into Google My Map. Additionally, data is captured of the ride through a mounted GoPro, and the footage is edited through Davinci Resolve. The Google My Map includes a link to the video of a particular day’s adventure to allow someone to relive the experience. Each video contains voiceover commentary that allows a viewer to gain insight into better navigating the trail.

The edited video project gets uploaded to YouTube, then as someone travels along the trail with me and an alternate trail comes up they are offered an opportunity to take that trail through YouTube Cards which link up other videos to the exact moment in said video which they could travel on that trail. Users “Choose-their-own-adventure” and can travel continuously throughout the trails of Duluth.