Social Media Analytics
Smartphone Data Shows that Utahns' Park Time during COVID may have Doubled
COVID-19 impacted the lives of Utahns, changing the way they worked, socialized, and recreated. New data suggests that for many of the state’s residents, the new guidelines have not stopped them from getting outside and enjoying local parks, greenways, an...
Does Weather Affect National Park Visitor Movement?
A short video from Emily Wilkins describes research exploring how weather affects National Park Visitor Movement.
The Uses and Limits of Social Media to Understand Visitors in Parks and Protected Areas
This research explores the use of social media in park and protected area management. There is a broad range of applications for social media data, but there are also limitations, and a need to establish best practice standards for this evolving source of...
Tracking How Visitors Move through National Parks Using Social Media
Research from Emily Wilkins and her team investigates the impact of daily high temperatures and summer rain on the way people visit 110 National Park Service units. They found that daily weather has a clear impact on where visitors go within parks, but th...
Keeping Tabs on Travelers: Using Mobile Device Data to Gather Visitor Demographics
IORT Faculty Fellow Chris Monz and his team present a new, mobile device-based assessment strategy that helps managers determine basic visitor demographics about people coming to protected areas--without the need for face-to-face questionnaires.
Which Visitors Can Be Tracked on Public Lands Using Social Media?
As land managers move to using electronic data as a cost-effective way to figure out who is visiting parks and protected areas, some questions remain: How accurately does geotagged data reflect visitors compared to traditional on-the-ground counts?