The use of public participation GIS (PPGIS) for park visitor management: A case study of mountain biking

• We evaluated the utility of public participation GIS (PPGIS) in park tourism planning.
• Our method was effective for engaging mountain bikers in complex spatial planning.
• Insights were gained on rider distributions, underlying reasons and management actions.
• We used GPS tracking to validate and surveys to complement PPGIS mapping data.
• We discuss the benefits of mixed PPGIS delivery modes (field vs. online data).

Spatially-explicit participatory planning is a relatively new approach for managing visitors to protected areas. In this study we used public participation geographic information systems (PPGIS) mapping and global positioning system (GPS) tracking to monitor mountain bikers frequenting national parks for tourism and recreation in Northern Sydney, Australia. PPGIS was implemented using both an internet application and with hardcopy maps in the field. Our research addressed two fundamental questions for park planning: (1) What is the spatial distribution of visitor activities and location-specific reasons for riding; and (2) What location-specific actions are needed to improve riding experiences? The spatial distributions of riding activities generated in PPGIS showed strong correlation with the GPS tracking results, with riding locations being related to the reasons for track selection. Riders proposed a broad range of management actions to improve riding experiences. PPGIS mapping provides a cost-effective approach to facilitate spatial decision making, allowing park agencies to prioritise future visitor management actions. We discuss the strengths and limitations of these research methods.