GPS Tracking of Visitors in Public Parks in Aalborg 2007, Case Skansen

http://www.detmangfoldigebyrum.dk/

GPS tracking of people in urban spaces

Experiences from GPS tracking of visitors in Public Parks in Denmark based on GSP technologies

SPM 2008 presentation, Tartu, Estonia, February 2008

Henrik Harder, Architecture & Design, Aalborg University 1 E-mail: [email protected] 30-03-2008 http://www.detmangfoldigebyrum.dk/

Research Status

A considerably part of the data we produce in the “Diverse Urban Space” research project is based on quantitative research tradition involving GPS or in the future RFID technologies. Our research fields are urban areas and buildings. By using our surveys technology it is possible to ask location and activity based and/or time based questions in real time. Questions like:

Where are we? What are we doing and for how long time? And why are we doing what we do?

Henrik Harder, Architecture & Design, Aalborg University, 2 E-mail: [email protected] 30-03-2008 http://www.detmangfoldigebyrum.dk/

Research Status

First part (autumn 2007): Our test case: The Park Survey, GPS tracking of visitors in Public Parks in four Aalborg and the explorative case: Skanseparken (Denmark), 2007

Second part (spring 2008): Our first main case: The Aalborg Survey, GPS tracking of 300 – 400 young people in urban areas in Aalborg (Denmark), 2008

Third part (spring 2009): Our second main case (under construction)

Henrik Harder, Architecture & Design, Aalborg University, 3 E-mail: [email protected] 30-03-2008 http://www.detmangfoldigebyrum.dk/

Research Status

At the moment we collect our empirical data using GPS units with a direct online GPRS connection to our server/database. Supplementary data is collected qua web org paper based surveys .

Case Data collection Server / database Data management GIS analyses

Henrik Harder, Architecture & Design, Aalborg University, 4 E-mail: [email protected] 30-03-2008 http://www.detmangfoldigebyrum.dk/

Research Status

Henrik Harder, Architecture & Design, Aalborg University, 5 E-mail: [email protected] 30-03-2008 http://www.detmangfoldigebyrum.dk/

Test case: Aalborg Helpark, autumn 2007

We have carried out four park surveys in Aalborg in August 2007 in collaboration with the municipality of Aalborg. During this project more than 20 student assistants have been employed and they spent more than 500 hours in the parks, including time used typing in the questionnaires:

‐ Mølleparken (”the first”) Wednesday the 8 th and Saturday the 11 th of August 2007, both days in the time span between 06.00 and 22.00

‐ Søheltens Have (”the most quiet”) Thursday the 16 th and Saturday the 18 th of August 2007, both days in the time span between 07.00 and 19.00

‐ Skanseparken (”the most cosy”) Wednesday the 22 th and Saturday the 25 th of August 2007, both days in the time span between 07.00 and 19.00

‐ Kildeparken (”the wildest”) Wednesday the 29 th of August 2007, in the time span between 07.00 and 19.00 –not part of the following data)

Henrik Harder, Architecture & Design, Aalborg University, 6 E-mail: [email protected] 30-03-2008 http://www.detmangfoldigebyrum.dk/

Test case: Aalborg Helpark, autumn 2007

We did the Aalborg Helpark survey because we wanted to:

‐ test the a large scale survey concept involving 500 + respondents (the organisational setup)

‐ test the data quality and the connection between GPS and other data (using more than .. Waypoints .. )

‐ test the different types of spatial activity analysis it is possible to make (time, location, speed maps)

Henrik Harder, Architecture & Design, Aalborg University, 7 E-mail: [email protected] 30-03-2008 http://www.detmangfoldigebyrum.dk/

Test case: Aalborg Helpark, autumn 2007

‐Total number of visitors in the parks: 1.415 persons

‐Total number of respondents in the parks: 1.169 persons

‐ Not all respondents want to carry a GPS: 38% (yes)

‐There is general satisfaction with the maintenance of the parks

‐Generally more activity options and better lighting are wished for

‐ In general the parks are mostly used between 15.00 – 19.00

Henrik Harder, Architecture & Design, Aalborg University, 8 E-mail: [email protected] 30-03-2008 Test case: Aalborg Helpark, autumn 2007

Participation (all visitors in the survey) - 49 % of the total number of visitors participated in the survey, and 38 % of the total number of visitors participated in the GPS survey. An evaluation of the park surveys in the three parks based on feedback from the survey representatives generated a conclusion that the main reason why visitors did not wish to take part in a “more complicated” survey was because of lack of time.

Age and Gender (respondents in the GPS survey) - 55 % of all respondents were men, and 45 % were women. The average age of respondents in the three parks was: 40,8 years for Mølleparken, 44,8 years for Søheltens Have and 38,9 years for Skanseparken. Average age in the municipality of Aalborg is 38,8 years and division of gender 50 %.

Activities (respondents in the GPS survey) - Despite the fact that three parks are different in size and design the respondents on the whole report the same “purposes” for staying in the parks. The two main purposes are: “To get some fresh air” (27 % stated this) and “Experience the nature” (19 % stated this). The least essential purpose for staying in the parks was to “Meet other people” (2 % stated this) and “Retraining” (1 % stated this).

Henrik Harder, Architecture & Design, Aalborg University, 9 E-mail: [email protected] 30-03-2008 http://www.detmangfoldigebyrum.dk/

Test case: Aalborg Helpark, autumn 2007 - Mølleparken

Henrik Harder, Architecture & Design, Aalborg University 10 E-mail: [email protected] 30-03-2008 http://www.detmangfoldigebyrum.dk/

Test case: Aalborg Helpark, autumn 2007 - Søheltens Have

Henrik Harder, Architecture & Design, Aalborg University, 11 E-mail: [email protected] 30-03-2008 http://www.detmangfoldigebyrum.dk/

Test case: Aalborg Helpark, autumn 2007 - Skanseparken

Henrik Harder, Architecture & Design, Aalborg University, 12 E-mail: [email protected] 30-03-2008 http://www.detmangfoldigebyrum.dk/

Henrik Harder, Architecture & Design, Aalborg University, 13 E-mail: [email protected] 30-03-2008 http://www.detmangfoldigebyrum.dk/

The explorative case: Skanseparken – Here is the park located

Henrik Harder, Architecture & Design, Aalborg University, 14 E-mail: [email protected] 30-03-2008 Taking a point of departure in joining and connecting the GPS data and questionnaire data from one of the parks, Skanseparken (N = 293) the possibilities in usin representatives from the Aalborg Municipality responsible for the design and operation of the parks.

http://www.detmangfoldigebyrum.dk/

The explorative case: Skanseparken – who were the respondents in the park

Taking a point of departure in joining and connecting the GPS data and questionnaire data from one of the parks, Skanseparken (N = 293) the possibilities in using different types of GPS based Arch view activity pattern analyses have been used.

The activity pattern analyses have been developed in discussed with representatives from the Aalborg Municipality responsible for the design and operation of the parks.

Based on interviews with two representatives from Park & Nature, the municipality of Aalborg, three types of GIS analysis were developed base on the themes: time, area and speed.

Henrik Harder, Architecture & Design, Aalborg University, 15 E-mail: [email protected] 30-03-2008 http://www.detmangfoldigebyrum.dk/

The explorative case: Skanseparken – selected respondents’ behaviour in the park

Denmark, Aalborg, Skanseparken Wednesday the 22nd and Saturday the 25th of August, 2007 Time span 07.00 ‐19.00, sunny and clouded, little rain. Average temp on Wednesday 17.5 ‐ 21.5°C and 17.00 ‐ 21.00°C on Saturday. The total number of visitors on the two days were 298. The total number of GPS tracked visitors 132.

N = number of respondents used in the visualization = 4 T = total number of logged seconds in the visualization = 1399 S = the total number of hours the visualization covers = 0,25

Henrik Harder, Architecture & Design, Aalborg University, 16 E-mail: [email protected] 30-03-2008 http://www.detmangfoldigebyrum.dk/

The explorative case: Skanseparken – respondents’ use of different areas in the park

N = number of respondents used in the visualization = 132. T = total number of logged seconds in the visualization = 83548. S = the total number of hours the visualization covers = 24.

Henrik Harder, Architecture & Design, Aalborg University, 17 E-mail: [email protected] 30-03-2008 http://www.detmangfoldigebyrum.dk/

The explorative case: Skanseparken - Visualizations of different age groups’ use of the park

N = number of respondents used in the visualization = 132. T = total number of logged seconds in the visualization = 83548. S = the total number of hours the visualization covers = 24.

Henrik Harder, Architecture & Design, Aalborg University, 18 E-mail: [email protected] 30-03-2008 http://www.detmangfoldigebyrum.dk/

Conclusions

GPS Unit ‐ In the light of a number of various deliberations a GPRS based hardware unit (Flextrack Lommy©) with a built‐in GPS was chosen to the completion of the Aalborg GPS‐park survey: firstly the design of the unit was simple, the unit was light and small (it only weighs 99 gram, and the dimensions were 74x61x23 mm), and it had only one small red on/off button. Secondly the choice of this GPS unit gave the opportunity to follow the GPS unit online and in real time so that respondents leaving the park without having passed survey representatives at the chosen entrances could be tracked and caught up with.

GPS precision ‐ The Precision of the GPS and GPRS units which were used in Aalborg GPS‐Park survey was tested in a park environment (Skanseparken) and had an average deviation of 6,79 meters. Big trees and single‐storied buildings caused a minor systematic error while tall buildings caused a considerable systematic error of 18,26 metres in a narrow street with tall buildings ( about 20 meters) on each side. The accuracy of the GPS part of the hardware unit is based on a 16 Channel parallel Very High Sensitivity receiver with a sensitivity tracking: ‐158 dBm / ‐188 dBW and a high efficiency Helix antenna.

Henrik Harder, Architecture & Design, Aalborg University, 19 E-mail: [email protected] 30-03-2008 http://www.detmangfoldigebyrum.dk/

Conclusions

GPS Data quality –The GPS waypoints generated from the GPS units used in the surveys were in general of high quality. Due to limited battery length (10 hours) waypoints were logged with different intervals up to every 10 seconds but “two seconds waypoints” were later added to the dataset qua interpolation in the database with the joined data.

Representativity ‐ Owing to the explorative survey setup it its worth drawing attention to the fact that they were not statistical representative surveys compared to the everyday usages of the parks over a year. It is also worth considering that the actual survey setup was not efficient in getting data from all visitors.

Basic practical problems ‐ A GPS‐based survey setup, like the one presented in this paper, still holds a number of minor practical problems concerning handing out and collecting GPS hardware units. A few times it was necessary to use the online registration features to “hunt‐ down” the respondents who forgot to deliver the GPS units when leaving the park. During all three surveys no GPS units were lost, but in another similar one day survey in another park in Aalborg in August called Kildeparken involving 3.047 respondents’ three GPS units were lost.

Henrik Harder, Architecture & Design, Aalborg University, 20 E-mail: [email protected] 30-03-2008 http://www.detmangfoldigebyrum.dk/

“The Aalborg ethical GPS survey charter”

In the DMB/DUS research projects you are asked if you want to participate before the registration starts. It is voluntarily to participate and you can at any time back out of the project..

In the DMB/DUS research project we present different examples of types of analyses for each participant. These examples show the types of analyses we want to accomplish starting from the data we want to collect from each participant ..

In the DMB/DUS research project the researchers keep and protect the data and this information is not passed on to third parties who are not mentioned in the contract between participant and the project ..

In the DMB/DUS research project we do not give financial compensation for participation. Instead we draw lots for a number of prizes among the participants who have been chosen to participate in our research projects ..

In the DMB/DUS research projects GPS units are handed out and we hope that participants will take part in the data and will not misuse data or use false identities ..

Henrik Harder, Architecture & Design, Aalborg University, 21 E-mail: [email protected] 30-03-2008 http://www.detmangfoldigebyrum.dk/

Acknowledgements:

The authors wish to thank Nicolas Rendtlew Horst, Anders Knørr Lyseen and Henrik Skov from Aalborg University for their invaluable contribution by leading and conducting the GPS‐Park survey and the work with the GIS analyses.

The authors want to thank Mette Lemcke Frederiksen for translation and linguistic adjustments of papers and articles related to our research.

The authors also wish to thank Kirsten Lund Andersen, city head gardener, and Marianne Jensen, head of department for Park & Nature, the municipality of Aalborg, for their willingness to cooperate with the authors about the survey and the GIS visualizations during and after the Aalborg GPS‐Park surveys were conducted.

22 30-03-2008