These automated trail classifications are the result of project with Cincinnati Off-Road Alliance (CORA) to utilize API weather data and coded logic to automatically classify Cincinnati Mountain Bike trail status.
Official Trail Status conditions can be found at https://coramtb.org/trails and are kept accurate and up to date by your hardworking local trail stewards. These trail conditions are important so (1) you can actually ride the trail without slipping/failing everywhere and (2) you don’t damage the trails.
The purpose of the automated trail conditions are to attempt to provide a more real-time response, as Cincinnati weather is notable for spotty and unpredictable rain showers that can quickly make one trail unrideable but leave another trail a few miles away untouched and perfect for riding.
Last 24 Hours Automated Trail Status Classifications
The code base for this project can be found at GitHub at this link here. It is setup to run every 1 hour on a remote virtual server, which then updates the database and above visual, which is also shared with the official CORA website.
The logic for the code primarily works off of an IF/THEN logic that determines the “closest” trail status classification based on a scoring system for each possible trail status option. The parameters that feed into the mentioned scoring system are viewable at this google doc link here. This choice was made to provide more transparency and explainability for each classification, while also providing enough complexity to capture complex relationships between precipitation totals, time of year, humidity, and temperature.