Using drones to quantify beach users across a range of environmental conditions

Provost, Euan J.; Butcher, Paul A.; Colefax, Andrew P.; Coleman, Melinda A.; Curley, Belinda G.; Kelaher, Brendan P.

doi:10.1007/s11852-019-00694-y

Cited by 23 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 52 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…However, in the case of unpatrolled beaches, there is a logistic constraint of requiring a trained and certified operator to be present. The installation of low-cost remote video cameras has been shown to have the potential to monitor the number and location of people on beaches in real time (Guillén et al, 2008;Morgan, 2018;Provost et al, 2019) and could be used by authorities to monitor peak usage times on unpatrolled beaches, which would have implications for future lifeguard provision.…”

Section: Implications For Beach Safety Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics and beach safety knowledge of beachgoers on unpatrolled surf beaches in Australia

Uebelhoer

Koon

Harley

et al. 2022

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. The majority of drowning deaths on Australian beaches occur significant distances away from lifeguard services. This study uses results of 459 surveys of beachgoers at five beaches unpatrolled by lifeguards in New South Wales, Australia, to improve understanding of who visits these beaches and why, and to identify risk factors associated with their beach safety knowledge and behaviour. Many unpatrolled beach users were infrequent beachgoers (64.9 %) with poor rip current hazard identification skills, who did not observe safety signage that was present, and yet intended to enter the water to swim (85.6 %) despite being aware that no lifeguards were present. The survey found that the main reasons why beachgoers visited unpatrolled beaches were because they were conveniently close to their holiday accommodation, or they represented a quieter location away from crowds. Future beach safety interventions in Australia need to extend beyond the standard “swim between the flags” message in recognition that many Australian beaches will remain unpatrolled, yet still frequented, for the foreseeable future. Future beach safety interventions for unpatrolled beaches should be tailored towards the varied demographic groups of beach users.

show abstract

Section: Implications For Beach Safety Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics and beach safety knowledge of beachgoers on unpatrolled surf beaches in Australia

Uebelhoer

Koon

Harley

et al. 2022

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…These approaches can improve the collection of use level data in many environments, but a continuing problem exists in areas such as beaches that possess porous boundaries or unspecified access points (Ziesler & Pettebone, 2018). UAV technology can potentially overcome this issue because it is now affordable, easy to operate, and can obtain imagery within a short period of time (Ancin-Murguzur et al, 2019;Provost et al, 2019).…”

Section: Use Levels Encounters and Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Compared to conventional methods, UAVs have cost, logistical, and safety benefits because modern commercial drones are affordable, easy to operate, and can acquire imagery within a short time period (Colomina & Molina, 2014;Mancini et al, 2013). The manual counting of people from drone footage is still a tedious and labor-intensive process that limits the full impact of this technology (Provost et al, 2019). If drone data can be supplemented with machine learning technologies, this approach has the potential to significantly improve the collection of descriptive data.…”

Section: Research Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

From a drone’s eye view: indicators of overtourism in a sea, sun, and sand destination

Szuster

Needham

Lesar

et al. 2021

Journal of Sustainable Tourism

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…surveillance (Claesson et al, 2017;Butcher et al, 2019;Ajgaonkar et al, 2020) and have the logistic constraint of requiring an operator. Remote video cameras and drones also have the potential to monitor the number and location of people on unpatrolled beaches in real-time as well as rip current locations (Guillén et al, 2008;Morgan, 2018;Provost et al, 2019).…”

Section: Implications For Beach Safety Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics and beach safety knowledge of beachgoers on unpatrolled surf beaches in Australia

Uebelhoer

Koon

Harley

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. The majority of drowning deaths on Australian beaches occur significant distances away from lifeguard services. This study uses results of 459 surveys of beachgoers at five beaches unpatrolled by lifeguards in New South Wales, Australia to improve understanding of who visits these beaches and why, and to identify risk factors associated with their beach safety knowledge and behaviour. Many unpatrolled beach users were infrequent beachgoers and weak swimmers, with poor rip current hazard identification skills, who did not observe safety signage that was present, and yet intended to enter the water to swim despite being aware that no lifeguards were present. The survey found that the main reasons beachgoers visited unpatrolled beaches were because they were conveniently close to their holiday accommodation, or they represented a quieter location away from crowds. Future beach safety interventions in Australia need to extend beyond the standard ‘swim between the flags’ message in recognition that people will always frequent unpatrolled beaches. Future beach safety interventions for unpatrolled beaches should be tailored towards the varied types of demographic beach users, such as domestic tourist families, males, and day visitors attracted by social media.

show abstract

Using drones to quantify beach users across a range of environmental conditions

Cited by 23 publications

References 52 publications

Characteristics and beach safety knowledge of beachgoers on unpatrolled surf beaches in Australia

Characteristics and beach safety knowledge of beachgoers on unpatrolled surf beaches in Australia

From a drone’s eye view: indicators of overtourism in a sea, sun, and sand destination

Characteristics and beach safety knowledge of beachgoers on unpatrolled surf beaches in Australia

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About