Assessing the Disturbance from Overcrowding in Outdoor Nature Experiences

A novel device designed for field studies successfully captures visitors' moment-to-moment perception of overcrowding, offering deeper insights into the quality of nature experiences compared to traditional questionnaires. Applied at Þingvellir National Park this interdisciplinary approach combines User Experience research with overcrowding assessment techniques. The device, featuring two buttons for signaling perceived overcrowding or emptiness, records time, location, and button events locally and anonymously, adhering to GDPR standards. Initial findings reveal that moment-to-moment self-reporting complements traditional methods, providing a more nuanced understanding of visitor disturbance and its spatial-temporal dynamics. This research has significant implications for sustainable park management, helping managers, designers, and rangers optimize infrastructure and visitor flow to mitigate overcrowding effects.

Pedica, C., Diamanti, M., & Vilhjálmsson, H. H. (2021). Assessing the Disturbance from Overcrowding in Outdoor Nature Experiences. Extended Abstracts of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1145/3411763.3443439