Identifying Tourist Spatial and Temporal Patterns Using GPS and Sequence Alignment Method

Abstract

This study identified the spatial and temporal patterns of national park visitors by combining global positioning system (GPS) technologies and surveys using the sequence alignment method (SAM) based on the concept of space–time path of time geography. Data were collected from a sample of 344 GPS tracks and questionnaires obtained from Gyeryongsan National Park in South Korea. A complex random stratified sampling method was employed to represent a national sample based on mobile positioning data. The result of the SAM analysis revealed that the derived visitor typologies constituted three groups from 83 unique paths extracted from 341 sequences. Significant intergroup differences were found for the paths based on average travel distance, average visit duration, and average travel speed. The main theoretical contribution of this study is in expanding the application of the theory by providing methodological improvements using SAM and GPS analysis of the theoretical basis of time geography.

State-of-the-Art Review on Destination Marketing and Destination Management

“…What tourism sociologists conceptualized and anecdotally supported (e.g., [37]) can now be measured and analyzed. Information technology has enabled researchers to reconstruct visitor flows in a number of different ways: Geoand time-tagged data extracted from user-generated content on social media (e.g., [38,39]), from credit card transactions (e.g., [40]), from smartphones with their GPS locations [41][42][43][44], or captured from tourist cards (e.g., [45]). These data show that visitors are more likely to be at landmarks, attractions, and tourist sites than at other 'ordinary' places.…”

Exploring Values via the Innovative Application of Social Media with Parks Amid COVID-19: A Qualitative Content Analysis of Text and Images Using ATLAS.ti

“…Prior research concluded that recreation areas are commonly related to beneficial values such as enjoying nature, escaping from the noise, seeking solitude, and learning [29,35]. Bricker and Kerstetter [36] described that place meanings associated with recreational activities are the enjoyment/excitement of participating in an activity in a setting) and knowledge about the setting [37,38].…”