Protect Phoenix Preserve

Citizen Science: How We Audited the Mountain Preserve Project Area

This page provides an open-source, step-by-step toolkit showing how everyday community members can verify municipal civil engineering work using consumer electronics and basic earth science.

Step 1: Download a High-Density GPS Tracking Application

1. Open the App Store on an iPhone or the Google Play Store on an Android device.
2. Search for CalTopo (or a similar specialized wilderness navigation application like Gaia GPS).
3. Download and install the app, ensuring you grant it permissions to utilize high-accuracy location and barometric altitude services.

Step 2: Record the Physical Watershed Track

1. Walk out to the upper physical origin point of the watershed trail inside the preserve area.
2. Open the mapping app and initialize a new “Track Record” or activity session.
3. Run or walk continuously down the exact center line of the graded wash or channel alignment, tracking every turn directly along the residential property fences.
4. Stop and save the track immediately upon reaching the terminal downstream exit boundary of the project zone.

Step 3: Export and Openly Share the Telemetry Data

1. Open your saved track within the application menu and select your export settings.
2. Select Export as GeoJSON or GPX file (standard developer formats that store geographic coordinates and altitudes).
3. Upload the raw text file directly to a shared public folder (such as Google Drive) so that neighbors, engineers, and independent real estate attorneys can download the data and verify our calculated slopes independently.

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