Analyzing human activities through volunteered geographic information: Using flickr to analyze spatial and temporal pattern of tourist accommodation

Abstract

Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) provides valuable information to analyze human activities in space and time. In this chapter, we use Flickr photos as an example to explore the possibilities of VGI to analyze spatiotemporal patterns of tourists’ accommodation in Vienna, Austria as study site. Kernel density estimations and spatial scan statistics are used to explore the distribution of photos, while seasonality is considered additionally. The results show seasonal tendency of tourists for accommodation. It has been discovered that Flickr photos have, in general, the capability to improve tourism-related researches. In particular, they are useful to investigate spatiotemporal human activities, which open new possibilities for further location and event based analysis.