Visitor Counting and Monitoring in Forests Using Camera Traps: A Case Study from Bavaria (Southern Germany)

Abstract

A variety of counting methods exist to analyze visitor numbers of outdoor settings such as national parks, recreation areas and urban green spaces, with sensor-based approaches being the most frequently applied. In this paper, we describe the application and practicality of camera traps originally designed for wildlife monitoring for visitor management purposes. The focus of the work is on the practicality of trigger camera traps and data collection for visitor monitoring from a more practice- and management-oriented perspective. Camera traps can provide interesting in-depth and detailed information about recreationists and are flexible and suitable for various uses; however, assessing the visual data manually requires significant staff and working time. To deal with the large amounts of data gathered for numbers of passersby and recreation activities, correlation factors between passersby and pictures were determined, so that the number of passersby related to the number of pictures taken per day or per other time unit could be established. In focusing on using the camera traps and assessing the generated data, it became clear that more studies have to be conducted to compare different methods of visitor monitoring and their accuracy in different outdoor environments.