Consumer surplusNovel visitor use estimates
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 […]
Novel visitor use estimatesUser attitudes
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 […]
Business impactsNovel visitor use estimates
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. […]
Business impacts
This study analyzes the economic impacts of visitor expenditures at local parks operated by the Pat Harrison Waterway District (PHWD) in Mississippi which provide amenities like boat launches, fishing opportunities, camping, and trails. A survey and input-output model from IMPLAN is used to model expenditures. Visitors’ total local spending was estimated to be $5.1 million […]
Novel visitor use estimates
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 […]
Novel visitor use estimates
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 […]
Novel visitor use estimatesUser attitudes
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 […]
Business impactsConsumer surplusTrail use estimates
This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the economic impact of outdoor recreation in Washington State. The report includes estimates on spending, jobs, income, impact on GDP, consumer surplus, and environmental benefits of outdoor recreation. In 2019, outdoor recreation in Washington contributed $26.5 billion in spending and supported 264,000 jobs, compared to $21.5 billion and […]
Access
This study assesses outdoor recreation opportunities focusing on green space accessibility for different demographic groups in the Oslo metropolitan area in Norway. Overall, most people prefer large wooded green areas, high tree density, and water presence. Migrants and low-income households were found to have relatively less access to places for daily recreation.
Novel visitor use estimates
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 […]
Novel visitor use estimatesUser attitudes
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 […]
Access
Residents in four large metropolitan areas in California were interviewed by phone to determine differences in outdoor recreation participation in national forests by ethnoracial groups, age, and gender. The researchers found that the most listed constraint to participation among all groups was a lack of time, though minority respondents were more likely to list resource-related […]
Access
Across the U.S., racial and ethnic minorities visit national forests much less than white counterparts from neighboring counties. This disparity is the most pronounced in areas with the highest share of minorities living nearby, suggesting a significant need for creative outreach efforts.
Public health
A daily afterschool program in Miami-Dade County, Florida observes significant decreases in body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure between the beginning and end of the school year. Findings from this research suggest consistent, long-term afterschool programs can effectively reduce childhood obesity and cardiovascular disease risk.
Novel visitor use estimates
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 […]
Novel visitor use estimatesUser attitudes
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 […]
Public health
In Miami-Dade County, Florida, researchers evaluated the structure of a pilot project connecting children, families, and their pediatricians to a park-based afterschool program. This study describes important factors encouraging ongoing support from participating families and pediatricians, as well as ways to measure the effectiveness of prescription parks programs.
Public health
In Miami-Dade County, Florida, an afterschool, park-based program is effective in improving physical fitness among a sample of 52 children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Afterschool programs may be an effective strategy to increase physical activity among disabled children, who tend to be less physically active than their non-disabled peers.
Access
This study explores the disparities in park availability, components, and quality across socioeconomic and racially/ethnically diverse census tracts in Kansas City, Missouri. The authors found that low-income census tracts contained a higher amount of parks, but also had more quality concerns per park and fewer parks with playgrounds. Categorizing census tracts into high minority (where […]
AccessPublic health
A large study of 50 urban parks in Southern California measures park use by nearby residents and other users across high-, medium-, and low-poverty areas, finding that parks are used less in high-poverty areas. Those who do use parks in high-poverty areas, however, on average use the parks more per week, are more likely to see familiar people in the parks, and use the parks more when there are more staff present.
AccessPublic health
By following a large sample of children over time, this study demonstrates that children who participate in recreation programs, or who live a walkable distance from parks, are much less likely to be obese or overweight. These benefits can be achieved through formal parks and programs, but also through accessible green space or other small, informal places that encourage informal play.
Public health
A formal walking program for children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) finds that low-intensity walks in an urban park are associated with significantly greater improvement in cognitive function than similar walks in residential or downtown settings. The improvements measured are on par with improvements associated with the most typical medications prescribed for ADHD, and cognitive performance for participants after walking is comparable to the average performance of children who have not been diagnosed with ADHD.
Access
In Los Angeles, historic land use policies that emphasized low-density housing and did not prioritize public park spaces have led to significant inequities of park access across race, ethnicity, and income. A fund designed to improve access to public parks could exacerbate this problem unless it considers proposals for nontraditional public spaces such as schoolyards and vacant lots, because there is very little available park space in the most underserved neighborhoods.
Access
In this study from 2001, the authors use the National Survey on Recreation and the Environment to better understand the constraints faced by black people, women, and rural residents in the U.S. when they attempt to participate in their favorite outdoor recreation activities. They found that women are most likely to feel constrained by personal […]
