We used nine years of geotagged social media posts uploaded to Flickr and Panoramio to investigate the ability of social media to measure and map spatial patterns in visitation to national parks, national forests, and state parks in Utah, USA. Our analysis shows support for the use of geotagged social media to supplement data collected through traditional means (e.g., on-site counts of visitors) as part of visitor use monitoring protocols. However, we did observe notable differences in the amount of variance in reported visitation explained by geotagged social media. Social media posts made within national parks and national forests captured substantially more of the variation in reported visitation relative to posts made within state parks. We attribute this to a variety of factors including the unique types of sites managed within the state park system, lower levels of visitation relative to national parks and forests within the state, and the method by which the state estimates visitation. We use exploratory spatial analyses to investigate spatial patterns of visitation across public lands. The analysis, performed at three different spatial scales (statewide, region, and county) illustrate the diversity of ways in which geotagged social media can inform outdoor recreation and tourism planning efforts and supplement traditional methods of measuring visitation. Our investigation demonstrates how social media can serve as a useful tool to inform proactive planning and management efforts.

我们使用上传到Flickr和Panoramio的九年带有地理标签的社交媒体帖子调查社交媒体在访问美国犹他州的国家公园，国家森林和州立公园时测量和绘制空间格局的能力。我们的分析表明，支持使用地理标记的社交媒体来补充通过传统方式（例如，访客的现场人数）收集的数据，作为访客使用监控协议的一部分。但是，我们确实观察到了地理标记的社交媒体解释的报告访问量的差异。与州立公园内发布的访问相比，在国家公园和国家森林内发布的社交媒体帖子捕获的访问量差异要大得多。我们将此归因于多种因素，包括在州立公园系统内管理的网站的独特类型，相对于州内的国家公园和森林而言，较低的访问量，以及州对访问量进行估算的方法。我们使用探索性空间分析来调查跨公共土地访问的空间格局。在三个不同的空间尺度（州，州和县）进行的分析表明，带有地理标签的社交媒体可以通过多种方式告知户外休闲和旅游计划工作，并补充传统的访问量测量方法。我们的调查表明，社交媒体如何充当有用的工具，为主动的计划和管理工作提供信息。在三个不同的空间尺度（州，州和县）进行的表演说明了带有地理标记的社交媒体可以告知户外休闲和旅游计划工作并补充传统的访问量测量方法的方式的多样性。我们的调查表明，社交媒体如何充当有用的工具，为主动的计划和管理工作提供信息。在三个不同的空间尺度（州，州和县）进行的表演说明了带有地理标记的社交媒体可以告知户外休闲和旅游计划工作并补充传统的访问量测量方法的方式的多样性。我们的调查表明，社交媒体如何充当有用的工具，为主动的计划和管理工作提供信息。