Applied Social Geography: Visitor Monitoring in the Hainich National Park

Duration: 2019-2020

Project management: Jun.-Prof. Simon Runkel, Prof. Dr. Alexander Brenning, Maria Winkler

Funding source: Thuringian Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Nature Conservation (Thüringer Ministerium für Umwelt, Energie und Naturschutz), Hainich National Park Administration (Nationalparkverwaltung Hainich)

Research focus: Geographies of the life course

Content:

The project aimed to support and further develop the already existing visitor monitoring of the Hainich National Park Administration. The focus was on the quantitative, anonymized recording of visitors and the first integrated modelling of the distribution of visitors in the area of the national park. For this purpose, existing counting technology was selected, purchased and implemented, the previous workflows were integrated, basic modelling of visitor numbers was developed and accompanying social science research was conducted.