Advancements in monitoring: a comparison of traditional and application-based tools for measuring outdoor recreation

Abstract

Outdoor recreation has experienced a boom in recent years. While outdoor recreation provides wide-ranging benefits to human well-being and is an important feature of many protected and non-protected areas, there are growing concerns about the sustainability of recreation with the increased pressures placed on ecological systems and visitor experiences. These concerns emphasize the need for managers to access accurate and timely recreation data at scales that match the growing recreation footprint. Here, we compare spatial and temporal patterns of winter and summer recreation use using traditional and application-based tools across the Columbia and Canadian Rocky Mountains of western Canada. We demonstrate how recreation use can be estimated using traditional and application-based tools, although their accuracy and utility varies across space, season and activity type. Cameras and counters captured similar broad-scale patterns in count estimates of pedestrians and all recreation activities. Application-based data provided detailed spatiotemporal information on recreation use, but datasets were biased towards specific recreation types and did not represent the full recreation population. For instance, Strava Metro data was more suited for capturing broad-scale spatial patterns in biking than pedestrian recreation. Traditional tools including aerial surveys and participatory mapping captured coarser information on the intensity and extent of recreation, with the former tool capturing areas with low recreation intensity and the latter tool suited for capturing recreation information across large spatial and temporal scales. Application-based data should be supplemented with data from traditional tools including cameras or trail counters to identify biases in data and fill in data gaps. We provide a comparison of each tool for measuring recreation use, highlight each tools' strengths and limitations, and suggest how to use these tools to address real-world monitoring and management scenarios. Our research contributes towards a better understanding of what tools are available to measure recreation and can help direct managers in selecting which tool, or combinations of tools, to use that can expand the rigor and scope of recreation research. This information can support decision-making and lead to the protection of ecological systems while allowing for high-quality recreation experiences.