Using AI and open innovation to improve austere road and trail navigation in national forests

About USDA

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides leadership on food, agriculture, natural resources, rural development, nutrition, and related issues based on public policy, the best available science, and effective management. USDA’s vision is to provide economic opportunity through innovation, helping rural America to thrive; to promote agriculture production that better nourishes Americans while also helping feed others throughout the world; and to preserve the Nation’s natural resources through conservation, restored forests, improved watersheds, and healthy private working lands.

Within USDA, the Office of the Chief Information Officer / Chief Data Officer facilitates engagements with internal and external partners through hackathons, USDA AI lab incubators, and vendor accelerators to develop innovative ideas at low cost, empowering USDA’s mission to better serve farmers, ranchers, and their communities.

The challenge

The USDA and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) face similar challenges using remote-sensing data for pathfinding. Road navigation and trail identification are critical tasks for both agencies, including day-to-day use for members of the public enjoying Forest Service lands, rover navigation on other planets, and supporting first responders in emergency situations where visibility is limited, such as wildfires. USDA and NASA set out to improve road navigation and trail identification while building relationships to enable recruitment of talented young technologists.

The approach

The USDA, NASA, and a major cloud service provider teamed up to put on the second annual hackathon at Colorado State University (CSU) in Fort Collins, Colorado, in coordination with the DevNet student group at CSU. While the previous hackathon focused on meat grading, this year’s event focused on trail identification and navigation using remote sensing data.

U.S. Digital Corps Fellows were involved in every step of the hackathon process. They contributed to the project formulation by aiding in prompt creation, data exploration, model testing, and event planning. During the hackathon, Fellows provided technical expertise and guidance to student teams as they worked through the challenges. Students dove into solutions involving different remote sensing bands for road identification and considerations for autonomous navigation, including energy consumption on different terrains.

After winners were announced and prizes for innovation and tenacity handed out, the Fellows led post-mortem sessions to capture lessons learned and identify improvements.

The impact

Rapidly prototyping solutions to complex problems with students resulted in cost savings, creativity, and connections. The ideas students developed are now being operationalized within USDA’s geospatial office to reduce the burden of mapping trails by hand, which previously took up to 30 hours per watershed.

Connections made between USDA, NASA, and CSU students open the door for future recruitment of talented technologists. Due to the hackathon’s success, the public will benefit through improved mapping of Forest Service lands, allowing for increased recreational opportunities and improved safety in emergency situations such as wildfire response.