The Hill District now has a system of routes for walking enthusiasts, courtesy of a team of freshman engineering students at the University of Pittsburgh.

Of 17 teams working with nonprofits in the city, two have worked on walking routes in the Hill, and one has posted markers to go with a map of seven color-coded walks. The map is available online at www.engr.pitt.edu/engr0715/studentdata/Team7/team7.html and will be available at the Hill House Association at a later date.

About three years ago, Lora Lund, director of service learning for freshmen engineering students at Pitt, connected a team of students to Find the Rivers!, a green-development nonprofit working with the Hill Consensus Group on a network of green spaces with river-view overlooks.

That team has been planning green-space trails by canvassing the wooded hillsides and taking inventory of old staircases. They are examining possible green links to a planned Arcena Street overlook, said Find the Rivers! co-founder Denys Candy.

The other team plotted an easy oval of Kennard Playground but basically kept to the sidewalks.

"The goal is to make it easy for people in the Hill to get more exercise," said Ms. Lund. The markers installed Saturday on existing posts, such as Port Authority signs, will match the color-coded routes with information about distance traveled and level of effort required.

Of the strenuous routes, one follows Webster east from Roberts to Kirkpatrick then south on Kirkpatrick to Centre and west back to Roberts. The other could start at Dinwiddie and Rose, going north on Dinwiddie then east on Centre, south on Kirkpatrick to Bentley Drive and west along the loop up to Devilliers.

One moderate walk follows Wylie east from Arthur then Kirkpatrick south back to Arthur going west along Centre.

Besides the Hill walking teams, freshmen engineering students have studied the soil of the Schenley Park watershed, analyzed a building's heating system, studied transportation for the disabled, made education videos for middle school students and designed Web sites.

"I've been very impressed with the level of commitment and organization of these freshman students," said Mr. Candy. Their work "is helpful to us because we are looking to map the green spaces and all the links between them, and we get useful background data from them."

Ms. Lund said she is always looking for projects to assign her students and encouraged nonprofits with engineering needs to contact her at lwlund@pitt.edu.