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Novel visitor use estimates

  • Instagram, Flickr, or Twitter: Assessing the usability of social media data for visitor monitoring in protected areas

    Megan Lawson, Ph.D.

    This 2014 study compares data from Instagram, Twitter, and Flickr to assess how official visitation statistics and social media predictions of visitation compare in 56 national parks in Finland and South Africa. Social-media-based visitor estimates match relatively well with the official visitor counts, although Instagram outperformed Twitter and Flickr. After the results were modeled, national… Read more

  • Measuring Americans’ Comfort With Research Uses of Their Social Media Data

    Megan Lawson, Ph.D.

    This study evaluates American perspectives on how social media data is used by researchers. A scenario-based survey with American Facebook users demonstrated that factors such as the type of researcher, content, purpose of data use, and awareness of data collection influence their level of comfort or concern regarding data use. This study provides recommendations for… Read more

  • Using data derived from cellular phone locations to estimate visitation to natural areas: An application to water recreation in New England, USA

    Megan Lawson, Ph.D.

    This study compares cell phone location data to onsite observations at 577 water access areas in New England and Massachusetts. A statistical model was built to estimate daily visitation with cell data for the summer months of 2017. The model accurately predicted visitation to the 577 water-access areas. Read more

  • Continental-scale quantification of landscape values using social media data

    Megan Lawson, Ph.D.

    This study compares three social media platforms (Panoramio, Flickr, and Instagram) and their applicability for mapping and quantifying landscape values at a continental scale through multiple models. The authors assume that landscape values increase as posts about the areas increase, interpreting spatial concentrations of posts as indicators of higher landscape values derived from aesthetic enjoyment… Read more

  • Squeezing the most from volunteered geographic information to monitor mountain biking in peri-urban protected and recreational areas at a metropolitan scale

    Megan Lawson, Ph.D.

    This study evaluates mountain bike use in five recreational areas using GPSies data at a regional scale in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (LMA) in Portugal. Results indicate that 98% of users were from Portugal and 60.57% of the rides were going to at least one of the protected and recreational areas (P&RAs) studied. 80.77% of… Read more

  • Evaluation of GNSS-based Volunteered Geographic Information for assessing visitor spatial distribution within protected areas: A case study of the Bavarian Forest National Park, Germany

    Megan Lawson, Ph.D.

    This study analyzes the reliability of Global Navigation Satellite System-based (GNSS) Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) using three platforms: GPSies, Outdooractive, and Komoot. These data sources are compared with automatic visitor counters to evaluate the spatial distribution of hikers in Germany’s Bavarian Forest National Park. In a comparison of all three platforms, GPSies and Outdooractive had… Read more

  • Assessing the potential of social media for estimating recreational use of urban and peri-urban forests

    Megan Lawson, Ph.D.

    This study analyzes data from Twitter, Flickr, and Instagram to assess visitation at 10 urban and peri-urban Swiss National Forest Inventory sites and evaluates recreational models on a national scale. Social media text was analyzed and a Flickr-based model and Twitter-based model were compared with a pre-existing potential recreation demand (PRD) model to estimate recreational… Read more

  • Assessing Forest Recreational Potential from Social Media Data and Remote Sensing Technologies Data

    Megan Lawson, Ph.D.

    This study uses Flickr data and remote sensing technologies to identify forest biometric and topographic data to map and estimate recreational potential of British Columbia’s provincial park system. Potential recreation and consumer surplus are mapped in Cypress Provincial Park using variables that influence visitors’ preferences for recreational activities. A machine learning approach called convolutional neural… Read more

  • Using Social Media Data to Evaluate Urban Parks Use during the COVID-19 Pandemic

    Megan Lawson, Ph.D.

    This study measures use and perceptions of eight urban parks in Bucharest, Romania, using Instagram posts and Google reviews during the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of posts and reviews was found to be correlated with the initial lockdown, as both on average decreased during March, April, and May, and increased after June as restrictions lessened… Read more

  • Expanding the toolbox: Assessing methods for local outdoor recreation planning

    Megan Lawson, Ph.D.

    This study analyzes how different data collection methods can support local recreation planning. Data is compared on current land use (land already used by outdoor recreationists) and the potential use (land that is not used by outdoor recreationists) through participatory mapping, free listing, photo ranking, and analysis of social media data. Local planners were interviewed… Read more

  • No Walk in the Park: The Viability and Fairness of Social Media Analysis for Parks and Recreation Policy Making

    Megan Lawson, Ph.D.

    This study examines the biases in social media analyses using different data sources that estimate the number and demographics of visitors to urban parks. Flickr, Instagram, an on-site survey, an online/phone survey, and an AI facial recognition program are utilized to address the bias that can be generated from different social media platforms. The number… Read more

  • Applying Novel Visitation Models using Diverse Social Media to Understand Recreation Change after Wildfire and Site Closure

    Megan Lawson, Ph.D.

    This study analyzes how visitation in the Columbia River Gorge of Oregon and Washington changed as a result of the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire. A visitation model is constructed by incorporating data from social media to measure visitation patterns and used to look for a substitution effect on nearby recreation sites after the fire. Read more

  • Trends in recreational walking trail usage in Ireland during the COVID-19 pandemic: Implications for practice

    Megan Lawson, Ph.D.

    This study analyzed changes in visitation on 33 of Ireland’s recreational walking trails between January 2019 and December 2020 using data from infrared sensors and Google Community Mobility Report (GCMR) data. A strong correlation was found between GCMR data and infrared sensors. There was a 6% overall increase in recreational trail usage in Ireland in… Read more

  • Estimating trail use and visitor spatial distribution using mobile device data: An example from the nature reserve of Orange County, California USA

    Megan Lawson, Ph.D.

    This study uses mobile data from the analysis platform Streetlight to estimate visitor use in four urban parks and protected areas in Orange County, California. The mobile device methods are compared to other trail counting methods to determine whether mobile device data could be a reliable measure of trailhead visitation counts and spatial distribution of… Read more

  • Advancing Sustainable Development and Protected Area Management with Social Media-Based Tourism Data

    Megan Lawson, Ph.D.

    This study uses social media to measure tourism levels and spatial variation in The Bahamas Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and Andros Island. Social media data from Flickr was found to be well correlated with visitor counts from entrance surveys. Annual visitation to The Bahamas MPAs was estimated to be an average of 383,000 visitor days.… Read more

  • Next-generation visitation models using social media to estimate recreation on public lands

    Megan Lawson, Ph.D.

    This study evaluates how social media predicts visitation across multiple sites. Two geographically different areas were chosen to evaluate how well visitation models can be generalized to different areas. Adding social media data to a model was found to improve visitor estimates at unmonitored sites, even when a model is parameterized with data from another… Read more

  • Uses and Limitations of Social Media to Inform Visitor Use Management in Parks and Protected Areas: A Systematic Review

    Megan Lawson, Ph.D.

    This study reviews the scientific literature of studies using social media to measure visitation patterns and visitors’ experiences in parks and outdoor recreational areas. The majority of studies they reviewed (79%) used a single social media platform, with Flickr being the most common. The authors provide five “best practices” which are a list of recommendations… Read more

  • Using social media images to assess ecosystem services in a remote protected area in the Argentinean Andes

    Megan Lawson, Ph.D.

    In this study, Flickr is used to evaluate the perception and attitudes of day-use and multi-day adventure-based visitors on Mount Aconcagua in Argentina. The study aims to determine the relative popularity of different parts of the park and how the Flickr image content differs between the easily accessible day-use areas and more remote areas of… Read more

  • Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Visitation in the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal: Insights from Geolocated Social Media Images

    Megan Lawson, Ph.D.

    This paper demonstrates how geolocated social media images can be used for monitoring tourism levels in remote mountains. Researchers identified visitor hotspots and seasonal variations using Flickr photos. Though this methodology has limitations, it serves as a useful approach to manage tourism in a remote, protected natural area where resources are limited. Read more

  • Using Social Media Camping Data for Evaluating, Quantifying, and Understanding Recreational Ecosystem Services in Post-COVID-19 Megacities: A Case Study from Beijing

    Megan Lawson, Ph.D.

    The authors apply a GIS spatial analysis using social media data to quantify public perspectives of recreational ecosystem services (RESs) or green spaces in Beijing, China. This megacity-scale study was conducted using data from the Little Red Book (LRB) which has been referred to as “China’s Instagram.” Though the authors acknowledge there are some limitations… Read more

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