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Using Mobile Device Data to Track the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Spatiotemporal Patterns of National Park Visitation

Author

Listed:
  • John A. Kupfer

    (Department of Geography, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA)

  • Zhenlong Li

    (Geoinformation and Big Data Research Laboratory, Department of Geography, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA)

  • Huan Ning

    (Geoinformation and Big Data Research Laboratory, Department of Geography, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA)

  • Xiao Huang

    (Department of Geosciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA)

Abstract

Effective quantification of visitation is important for understanding many impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on national parks and other protected areas. In this study, we mapped and analyzed the spatiotemporal patterns of visitation for six national parks in the western U.S., taking advantage of large mobility records sampled from mobile devices and released by SafeGraph as part of their Social Distancing Metric dataset. Based on comparisons with visitation statistics released by the U.S. National Park Service, our results confirmed that mobility records from digital devices can effectively capture park visitation patterns but with much finer spatiotemporal granularity. In general, triggers of visitation changes corresponded well with the parks’ management responses to COVID-19, with all six parks showing dramatic decreases in the number of visitors (compared to 2019) beginning in March 2020 and continuing through April and May. As restrictions were eased to promote access to the parks and the benefits associated with outdoor recreation, visitation in 2020 approached or even passed that from 2019 by late summer or early autumn at most of the parks. The results also revealed that parks initially saw the greatest increases in visitation after reopening originating from nearby states, with visitorship coming from a broader range of states as time passed. Our study highlights the capability of mobility data for providing spatiotemporally explicit knowledge of place visitation.

Suggested Citation

  • John A. Kupfer & Zhenlong Li & Huan Ning & Xiao Huang, 2021. "Using Mobile Device Data to Track the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Spatiotemporal Patterns of National Park Visitation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-16, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:16:p:9366-:d:618480
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Samuelsson, Karl & Barthel, Stephan & Colding, Johan & Macassa, Gloria & Giusti, Matteo, 2020. "Urban nature as a source of resilience during social distancing amidst the coronavirus pandemic," OSF Preprints 3wx5a, Center for Open Science.
    2. Zoe M Volenec & Joel O Abraham & Alexander D Becker & Andy P Dobson, 2021. "Public parks and the pandemic: How park usage has been affected by COVID-19 policies," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(5), pages 1-18, May.
    3. Craig E. Landry & John Bergstrom & John Salazar & Dylan Turner, 2021. "How Has the COVID‐19 Pandemic Affected Outdoor Recreation in the U.S.? A Revealed Preference Approach," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(1), pages 443-457, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Emad B. Dawwas & Karen Dyson, 2021. "COVID-19 Changed Human-Nature Interactions across Green Space Types: Evidence of Change in Multiple Types of Activities from the West Bank, Palestine," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-21, December.
    2. Hanxue Wei & Xiao Huang & Sicheng Wang & Junyu Lu & Zhenlong Li & Liao Zhu, 2023. "A data-driven investigation on park visitation and income mixing of visitors in New York City," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 50(3), pages 796-813, March.

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