The use of infrared sensors and digital cameras for documenting visitor use patterns: a case study from D'Aguilar National Park, south-east Queensland, Australia

This study assesses the use of pyroelectric infrared sensors combined with digital cameras to document visitor use patterns on a Horse Trail Network within an area of D'Aguilar National Park; a peri-urban bushland reserved for a range of purposes and used by several user-groups. Data were obtained from four cameras and comprised 7000 photographs over 1000 days. Forty-five percent of photographs were false triggers attributable to environmental factors and 42% were of confirmed users. An exercise aimed at assessing camera success revealed that in this study capture rates were in the order of 63% for cyclists, 82% for pedestrians, 90% of motor vehicles and 100% for horses. Sources of error can be minimised and primarily include the internal and external camera settings. Major advantages of infrared digital cameras include the portability of the technique, low cost, digital data format and discrimination of user types. In this case study, two-thirds of total observed visitor numbers occur on weekends and two-thirds of all use occurs during morning daylight. Cyclists were the most common user-group per day, followed in descending order by walkers, joggers, motorised users, dogs, bushwalkers, horse-riders and trail-bike riders. Implications of this data for management are discussed.