Cycling Trails Research Articles

Comparison of reported outdoor activities in Florida State Parks among three fitness tracker apps

This research used activity data from three fitness tracker apps (AllTrails, MapMyFitness, Wikiloc) to assess which features of Florida State Parks and their surroundings are associated with the number of hiking, cycling, running, and paddling activities. Key features, such as the density of hiking or cycling trails in and population near parks were associated with increased activity levels across most activity types. Comparison of regression results among apps gave insight into the consistency of app use for each specific outdoor activity type. The study also examined which apps are favored to track specific activities. Comparison to other studies sheds some light on user biases likely caused by analyzing a tech-savvy subgroup of outdoor enthusiasts who have access to mobile tracker apps. Therefore, sport-activity counts obtained from GPS tracker apps should be used with caution or be cross-referenced with other data sources, such as on-site questionnaires, for calibration.

Strava: participatory culture and community engagement of rocc members

The Rogue Cycling community is a road bike community that is experiencing the development of online member communication interaction activities. The interaction process generated offline is now getting support through Strava as the new online-based media. Rapid development of communication technology has created a new era where people can interact without the limitations of space and time. The potential use of Strava's new media is considered not only to be a participant, but also to shape the process of creating meaning. New media are also believed to have abilities that resemble interpersonal communication. Strava was formed in order to connect people with the community to increase interaction with each other through the features provided. This study aims to determine the participatory cultural components that make up the Rogue Cycling community in building the involvement of each member through Strava. This research uses case study method with qualitative descriptive research. The results showed that Rogue Cycling involving Strava's new media when analyzed using the concept of participatory culture (affiliations, expression, collaborative problem-solving, and circulation) had reached the four stages of participatory culture based on the formation of virtual Rogue Cycling community in Strava. Such as participated in upload cycling trails with members or carried out the circulation cycling trail process during cycling practice. The essence of participation through the support of the community concept and community involvement also shows that cycling activities cannot be done without a meeting, but virtual community activities and real communities make important contributions to the community.
 
 Keywords: Community Engagement, Digital Communication, Participatory Culture, ROCC Community, Strava.
 The Rogue Cycling community is a road bike community that is experiencing the development of online member communication interaction activities. The interaction process generated offline is now getting support through Strava as the new online-based media. Rapid development of communication technology has created a new era where people can interact without the limitations of space and time. The potential use of Strava's new media is considered not only to be a participant, but also to shape the process of creating meaning. New media are also believed to have abilities that resemble interpersonal communication. Strava was formed in order to connect people with the community to increase interaction with each other through the features provided. This study aims to determine the participatory cultural components that make up the Rogue Cycling community in building the involvement of each member through Strava. This research uses case study method with qualitative descriptive research. The results showed that Rogue Cycling involving Strava's new media when analyzed using the concept of participatory culture (affiliations, expression, collaborative problem-solving, and circulation) had reached the four stages of participatory culture based on the formation of virtual Rogue Cycling community in Strava. Such as participated in upload cycling trails with members or carried out the circulation cycling trail process during cycling practice. The essence of participation through the support of the community concept and community involvement also shows that cycling activities cannot be done without a meeting, but virtual community activities and real communities make important contributions to the community.
 

The reuse of military campgrounds following the interventions of environmental design and the grant of their use to the contemporary city. The case study of “the Velissario military campground in Ioannina”

The current case study presents a proposal for the redevelopment and reuse of the Velissario military campground in Ioannina, in western Greece. The military base is considered a prohibited area and an urban void completely cut off from the city. Firstly, the concept of sustainable development, the legislative framework, the historical background of environmental protection and examples of the reuse of other military bases worldwide are mentioned. Secondly, the significant characteristics of the surrounding area and the interventions according to the environmental design for the sustainable development of the city are presented, such as the preservation of the existing greenery, the creation of new green areas and their connection with the adjacent Pyrsinella park, for the creation of a Metropolitan Park, as well as the construction of a lake. Furthermore, the creation of sports and cultural facilities, hiking and cycling trails, the preservation of the necessary existing military buildings and the construction of new buildings is suggested. Environmentally friendly structural materials and renewable energy resources will be utilized. Both water and litter created in the park will be recycled and reused so that they compose the Prototype Park of Sufficient Environmental Management that we aspire to create.

Ar gali kelionės dviračiais paskatinti regionų plėtrą?

For twenty years, as soon as the talking about the possibilities brought in by cycles and attractiveness of the cycling related activities had started, the party of skeptics immediately appears arguing that absence of good bicycle paths means absence of bicyclists per se. Or, on the opposite – as long as the cycling mainstream is weak there is no need for paths. Therefore this dilemma goes on for more than 20 years in Lithuania, thus at least one generation in the country has lost its chance to appreciate the joy of full-scale cycling. On the other hand maybe we shouldn’t have to complain thoroughly, as fragmented cycling trails are constantly being fitted. But how the fragmentation and mostly unplanned trail scattering may be associated with regions remains unclear. Even more specific question – can trips on bicycles lead to more integrated regionalization and who are those using cycling paths in the future – the authors try to answer in this article. KEYWORDS: travelling with bicycle, bicycle tourism, cycle routes, tourism business. JEL CODES: L830, L840 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/rfds.v13i2.826

Identifikasi Potensi Desa Wisata Kerta Payangan, Kabupaten Gianyar, Bali


 
 
 Tourist village of Kerta is one of village in Gianyar Regency that the tourist village which has tourism potential that range from cultural, natural, artificial and can be developed as a tourist destination or attraction for tourists. The purposes of this study is to know the identification of the potential of tourist village of Kerta.
 The location of this research in the tourist village of Kerta, which has the location integrated with agriculture and tourism. The research in the tourist village of Kerta was conducted to discover the potential of the village (cultural, natural, and artificial potential of the tourist village). This research uses techniques of observation, interview, and documentation. The data analysist technique used is descriptive qualitative analysist. The purposive sampling technique using informants and use key informant.
 The results of this reserch shows that there are a variety of potential tourist villages grouped into three parts, among others, the natural potential (indigenous forests, bamboo forests, paddy fields, citrus plantations and, organic plantations), cultural potential (site sarcophagus, Bali Aga traditions, and Alas Angker Temple), and artificial potential (Puncak Sari campground, tracking and cycling trails, and Munduk Asri). Also accordingly with the potential that is owned by the village and developed on an ongoing basis to achieve positive benefits for the life of the local community.
 
 
 
 Keywords: Identification, Tourist Village, Kerta Village

The State of and Prospects for the Development of Cycling Tourism in Central Roztocze, According to Tourists

Summary Subject and purpose of work: The purpose of the paper is to present the state of and prospects for the development of cycling tourism in Central Roztocze, a physico-geographical mesoregion in south- eastern Poland. Materials and methods: The research was carried out by means of a diagnostic survey using the survey technique and a literature review. It was carried out in the period from April to June 2018 on a sample of 128 tourists. Results: The research showed that tourists most often cycle several times a week, covering distances of more than 30 km. The main reason for visiting this region is its natural values. The general assessment of the tourist routes indicates that they are not sufficiently prepared for tourists. It was also shown that in order to popularise cycling tourism, it is necessary to expand lodging facilities, and to provide more practical information about routes. Conclusions: The main factor encouraging tourists to visit Central Roztocze is its natural beauty. The general condition of the routes was assessed by the respondents as “average”. The factor conducive to the development of cycling tourism in Central Roztocze might be the development of the cycling infrastructure, including lodging facilities and practical information on cycling trails.

Cycling Mobility for a Green Micro-Economic Development of the Apennines Inlands

This paper refers to a research project on the cycling mobility micro-economic effects in the highland of Navelli located in the Apennines Inland of Abruzzo (Italy), one of the greenest Region in Europe (30% of its territory consists of parks and protected areas). The study proposes a green economic development model based on cycling tourism, territorial/architecture enhancement, built heritage recovery and micro entrepreneurial activities in the receptive field. To this purpose, a main cycling path is mostly realized through an ancient sheep track and associated with complementary cycle trail is designed. The study results are illustrated and discussed in terms of economic (costs, revenues income) social and environmental benefits.

On the complexity of and algorithms for detecting k-length negative cost cycles

Let G be a directed graph with an integral cost on each edge. For a given positive integer k, the k-length negative cost cycle (kLNCC) problem is to determine whether G contains a negative cost cycle with at least k edges. Because of its applications in deadlock avoidance in synchronized streaming computing network, kLNCC was first studied in paper (Li et al. in Proceedings of the 22nd ACM symposium on parallelism in algorithms and architectures, pp 243–252, 2010), but remains open whether the problem is $${\mathcal{NP}}$$ -hard. In this paper, we first show that an even harder problem, the fixed-point k-length negative cost cycle trail (FPkLNCCT) problem that is to determine whether G contains a negative closed trail enrouting a given vertex (as the fixed point) and containing only cycles with at least k edges, is $${\mathcal{NP}}$$ -complete in a multigraph even when $$k=3$$ by reducing from the 3SAT problem. Then, we prove the $${\mathcal{NP}}$$ -completeness of kLNCC by giving a more sophisticated reduction from the 3 occurrence 3-satisfiability (3O3SAT) problem which is known $${\mathcal{NP}}$$ -complete. The complexity result for kLNCC is interesting since polynomial-time algorithms are known for both 2LNCC, which is actually equivalent to negative cycle detection, and the k-cycle problem, which is to determine whether G contains a cycle with of length at least k. Thus, this paper closes the open problem proposed by Li et al. (2010) whether kLNCC admits polynomial-time algorithms. Last but not the least, we present for 3LNCC a randomized algorithm that, if G contains a negative cycle of length at most L, can find a solution with a probability $$1-\epsilon $$ for any $$\epsilon \in (0,\,1]$$ within runtime $$O(2^{\min \{L,\,h\}}mn\left\lceil \ln \frac{1}{\epsilon }\right\rceil )$$ , where m, n and h are respectively the numbers of edges, vertices and length 2 negative cost cycles in G.

Awheel Along Europe’s Rivers: Geoarchaeological Trails for Cycling Geotourists

AbstractThis review study presents an overview of the potential for the development of geoarchaeological trails for leisure cyclists in Europe. It initially defines and discusses the underpinning key concepts and then examines the nature and main needs of leisure cyclists. It considers and recognises appropriate geo-interpretative themes, of geological/geomorphological and archaeological/historical interest, to employ in developing the trails. Noting that river valleys have long been natural route-ways for human expansion into Europe (as exemplified by the ‘Stone Age’ and the Roman Empire), and that many of today’s major cycle trails are beside rivers with loess deposits, a geoarchaeological geotourism strategy is considered in relation to them. Case studies of specific sites, from central southern England, the Middle Danube and Middle Rhine valleys, outline the current provision and the basis of the proposed trails. Finally, a common relatively low-cost, mixed media, geo-interpretative and promotional approach could generate the impetus to further develop the strategy is suggested.

Sustainable Long-Distance Trail Management: International Perspectives

The management of long-distance trails was investigated through a review of global case studies including the Munda Biddi Trail (Australia), Nga Haerenga Cycle Trail (New Zealand), Arizona Trail and Appalachian Trail and Pacific Crest Trail (USA), West Highland Way (UK), Lechweg (Germany/Austria), E-Paths (Europe), Rim of Africa Trail (SA), and Jeju Olle Trail (South Korea). Through comparative analysis, the trail management components were identified as: funding, volunteering, governance, partnerships, conservation, infrastructure, and tourism. These components were then analyzed within the context of political, social and environmental settings. The findings indicate that the most financially sustainable model is the community approach, which involves a partnership between government and a not-for-profit organization. It extends the income stream options and reduces overhead through the use of volunteers for maintenance. Tourism strategies, such as marketing, promotion, and product and destination development, further extend the trail's financial sustainability by maximizing user numbers and partnering with businesses. This also increases regional economic benefits and improves the user experience.

Utilizarea metodei evaluarii conditionate in amenajarea padurilor urbane: o aplicatie pentru Parcul Dendrologic Sipote

The importance of green spaces in urban areas is a concept more and more discussed and included in the political agenda. Investments in green infrastructure can change the perception of residents, visitors or future investors about the attractiveness of a city. However, such investments are not easy to be achieved. Besides the human and financial capital necessary for the physical realization of the investments, an essential aspect is the perception of the inhabitants or visitors about the possible alternatives to combine the recreation facilities with the forest-specific natural landscapes. The object of this study is represented by the forest surrounding the Suceava citadel, named Șipote Dendrological Park. The area is a public owned forest and currently has recreational and soil protection functions assigned. In this context, the main purpose of the research is to identify the perception of the local community regarding alternatives of transforming this urban forest into a forest park. The specific objective of the research are: 1) the identification of community’s preferences for alternative strategies involving cutting of different sizes of forest to create recreational facilities; 2) the identification of preferences regarding the recreational facilities desired in an urban forest; 3) the identification of the willingness to pay for the investments nedeed to create a forest park. To assess the value of ecosystem services that are preferred by the local community we have used the contingent valuation method that helps identify consumers’ preferences over a range of alternatives. The method was based on the creation of three credible scenarios to test the alternatives for setting up different recreational facilities in the urban forest. The scenarios are identified based on a list of recreational facilities which imply interventions in cutting the forest as: S1-no forest cuts, S2-a cut of less than 30% of the forest area and S3-a cut of more than 30% of the forest area. In total, 305 questionnaires have been applied to identify citizens’ preferences which assures a confidence interval of 5.6%. The results show that the local community wants to retain the recreational function offered by the presence of the forest and desires in addition investments involving the creation of facilities for outdoor activities. Most of the surveyed participants are in favour of the second scenario and will like to have investments in cycling trails, kids’ playgrounds, fountains and an artificial lake. Nevertheless, the majority of the respondents are not willing to pay an entrance fee to compensate the value of additional facilities.

A whole-year approach showing that ambient light level influences walking and cycling

Many studies have used surveys to investigate the reactions to changes in lighting from people who walk or cycle. An alternative approach is to use objective data, specifically the number of pedestrians and cyclists present under different lighting conditions. Such data have been reported previously using a daylight savings transition approach. This paper presents a different method for analysing the effect of ambient light conditions in which data from the whole year are examined, rather than only the two weeks either side of the biannual daylight savings clock changes. The results confirm that ambient light has a significant impact: For a given time of day, more people walk or cycle when it is daylight than after dark and more people cycle on cycle trails and walk on foot paths after dark when they are lit than when they are unlit. While both methods use an odds ratio approach, which should account for environmental changes other than lighting, the results suggest the daylight savings method of analysis better isolates changes in weather from the effects of ambient light on travel choice than does the whole-year method.

Historical background of structural engineering – Totara Bridge refurbishment

The Totara Bridge is a multi-span Howe Truss bridge built in 1908 as part of the Hokitika to Ross rail line on the West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island. The rail line transported goods and passengers until its closure in 1980. Howe Trusses were a common style of bridge across New Zealand on both roads and railways, however few remain. The Totara Bridge is an impressive example of this style of bridge, having five trusses of 80 ft spans. The West Coast Wilderness Cycle Trail passes along this section of old rail line. The Westland District Council considered the option of incorporating the old Totara Bridge into the trail, or constructing a new crossing over the Totara River. The absence of maintenance since closure of the line meant the some elements of the bridge were in poor condition; however the Council made the commendable decision to retain the bridge and carry out necessary repairs to make it safe for public use. This decision, along with necessary design input, has restored one of the few remaining examples of was a common style of bridge in early New Zealand, and enabled its continued use for many years to come.

Socio-Ecological Intervention to Promote Active Commuting to Work: Protocol and Baseline Findings of a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial in Finland

Active commuting to work (ACW) is beneficial to traffic, environment and population health. More evidence is needed on effective ways to promote ACW. This paper describes the protocol and baseline findings of a cluster-randomized controlled study, which aims to promote ACW with multilevel strategies in two large workplace areas in Tampere, Finland. In Phase 1, the impacts of environmental strategies (trail improvements) were evaluated in 11 workplaces within Area 1. In Phase 2, five more workplaces were recruited from Area 2 to evaluate the impacts of social and behavioral strategies customized for each workplace. For this purpose, the workplaces in both areas were randomly assigned into experimental group (EXP, n = 6 + 2), which promoted ACW with social and behavioral strategies or into comparison group (COM, n = 5 + 3), which participated in the data collection only. The primary indicator in both phases is the change in employees’ ACW. Secondary indicators are e.g., changes in employees’ self-rated health, wellbeing at work, restrictions to and motivation for ACW, adverse effects due to ACW and the use and quality of the main walking and cycling trails. Also process, efficiency and environmental evaluation is included. The study is the first one in Finland to combine interdisciplinary collaboration between practitioners and researchers working in the fields of transportation, urban design, physical activity and sustainable development to promote ACW. The findings benefit all stakeholders interested in promoting ACW in urban context.

‘Great Rides’ on New Zealand’s new national cycleway: pursuing mobility capital

New Zealand has long claimed itself as ‘adventure capital of the world’, a place to engage in a wide range of adventurous activities. The backdrop: extensive areas of grand landscape. A new form of access to this landscape has been developed with the extensive new cycle trails. To date 19 dedicated routes in diverse scenic locations constitute Nga Haerenga, the national cycleway system. The $60 million enterprise, co-sponsored by national and local government, is a strategy to encourage both domestic and international tourism. Through riding these trails, cyclists of every level of experience and skill expand their own mobility capital. New Zealand’s well-established brand as a place of glorious landscape is the significant motif in this project. These Great Rides are the newest agents in this ongoing promotion exercise. The seduction of pretty landscape and the sheer joy of cycling over-ride concerns about local eco-politics.

ORGANISATION OF TOURIST MOVEMENT IN THE CZECH SWITZERLAND NATIONAL PARK

Purpose. Assessment of the organisation of tourism movement in the Czech Switzerland National Park taking into account the extent of protection zones, distribution of main tourist attractions and functions of neighbouring tourist settlements. Method. The course of tourist trails and the degree of infrastructure along them were compared with the zoning of the national park. A typology of tourist settlements (both within the borders of the park and in its vicinity) was prepared, taking into account their accessibility, tourist infrastructure and effects on the tourist movement in the protected area. The educational offer of the park, accessibility to the entries of tourist trails by public transport and proposals for handicapped tourists were also analysed. Findings. The Czech Switzerland National Park was introduced in a developed tourist space. That is why the network of tourist trails and locally intensive tourist infrastructure does not fully correspond with the division into protection zones. Out of 166.4 km of hiking and cycling trails, as much as 32.7 km lead through the first, most valuable zone, which composes less than 25% of the total park area. One main and few secondary tourist distribution nodes were distinguished, as well as two types of local tourist villages. The studied area is well accessible, has a developed educational offer, however, the proposals for handicapped tourists are limited. Research and conclusion limitations. In the research, only one national park was examined, thus comparison with situations in other protected areas is advisable. Practical implications. Findings may be useful while planning tourist infrastructure in other protected areas, especially those newly introduced. Originality. In the work, a relatively new national park (established in 2000) was taken into account. It has not been examined more thoroughly in Polish scientific literature concerning tourism. Importance was attached to the zoning of the protected area. Type of paper. The article presents the results of empirical research.

The concept of sustainable tourism development in rural areas – A case study of Zbąszyń commune

Abstract Tourism in rural areas has been defined as all tourist activities conducted in rural areas. The development of tourism in rural areas is dependent on external factors (e.g. landscape attractiveness), as well as internal factors (e.g. involvement of local authorities and society). Hence, it is important to increase the tourism potential for further increase of local tourism, and in turn to intensify the social-economic development according to a sustainable policy and multifunctional rural development. The main aim of the present study was to indicate possibilities to improve tourism management of the Zbąszyń urban-rural commune. For this purpose the following detailed aims were set: to evaluate local society satisfaction with tourism development in Zbąszyń commune, to evaluate the natural-landscape state of the analyzed area, to designate a new tourist trail or to revise the existing trails, and to propose modernization of existing tourism infrastructure. The obtained results revealed that in the opinion of local society there is still not sufficient tourism development despite some natural-landscape values. Hence, activities connected with tourism enrichment should be mainly connected with designation of two new cycling trails and supplementation of tourist information signs and tables. All proposed activities leading to an increase of tourism potential should bear in mind social aspects as well as natural values and would have a positive effect on economic income of the area.

Fast fault localization mechanism based on minimum dominating set clustering in WDM networks

Several out-of-band mechanisms have been proposed as effective approaches for link fault localization in WDM networks, such as monitoring cycle, monitoring tree and monitoring trail. However, such technologies need extra resources, including dedicated supervisor lightpaths and monitors. On the contrary, an in-band mechanism called limited-perimeter vector matching fault localization protocol (LVM) is proposed to localize single link failure with low overhead using traffic lightpaths. Nevertheless, LVM leads to the high dependence of traffic lightpaths and the long fault localization time. In order to solve these issues, a fast fault localization mechanism based on Minimum Dominating Set Clustering (MDSC) is proposed in this paper. MDSC consists of two phases: the cluster allocation algorithm using minimum dominating set (CAM) and the fault localization algorithm based on clustering (FLC). According to CAM, the network is reasonably made up of a lot of clusters, and a sink node will then be selected. According to FLC, a failure can be effectively localized by a cluster headers or the sink node by collecting the status of traffic lightpaths. Theoretical analysis and simulation results demonstrate that the proposed mechanism can efficiently reduce the dependence on traffic lightpaths and optimize the speed of fault localization.

Undeclared baggage: Do tourists act as vectors for seed dispersal in fynbos protected areas?

Encroachment by alien species is the second greatest threat to biodiversity worldwide. As South Africa’s Cape Floristic Region has a botanical endemism of nearly 70%, conservation efforts are a high priority. Estimates suggest that alien species cost the country over R6.5 billion per year. Despite significant research on alien species dispersal, the role of tourists as seed dispersers requires further exploration. To investigate the potential role tourists play in introducing alien seeds into protected areas, long-bristle brushes were used to scrape seeds off the shoes of hikers, dog walkers and cyclists, as well as the wheels of mountain bikes and dogs themselves, upon entering the Silvermine Nature Reserve section of the Table Mountain National Park in the Western Cape province, South Africa. In addition, a vegetation survey was conducted. This comprised 18 transects at various distances from the recreational paths in the park, and used a prioritisation ranking system that identified the alien species of greatest concern. It was concluded that the greatest number of alien plant species could be found along dog paths, in comparison to the hiking trails and cycling trails. This corresponded to the findings that dog walkers had the highest incidence of seeds on their shoes, suggesting that tourists were possibly dispersing seeds from their gardens. Alien species significantly covered more of the vegetation transects closer to the trails than they did in transects further into the matrix. Because more alien species were present in areas susceptible to human disturbance, the data suggest that tourists can act as vectors for alien seed dispersal. These findings emphasise the need for active tourism management in line with the South African National Parks Biodiversity Monitoring Programme in order to prevent the introduction and spread of alien species into South Africa’s protected areas.Conservation implications: Tourism is the main source of revenue for South African National Parks, and one of the organisation’s principal goals is to create a tourism management policy conducive to conservation. This research explores the potential role that tourists may play in the introduction of non-native species into a protected area, thereby providing novel information that could assist managers in the sustainable management of protected areas.

A review of design and maintenance guidelines for greenways

Ireland's reliance on the private car for transport is having a negative impact on the environment and public health; a modal shift from driving to cycling has the potential to reduce Ireland's carbon dioxide emissions and improve public health. Irish government policy commits to an increase in the modal share of cycling from 2% to 10% and the establishment of a National Cycle Network. In this network, the length of greenways (off-road cycle trails) will be maximised, however, no guidance exists for the design, maintenance or route selection of greenways in Ireland. Furthermore, internationally, while there is diverse literature with guidelines on cycle-route design, to date this has not been collated and reviewed. This paper reviews literature on the route selection, geometric design, pavement structure and maintenance of greenways from Ireland, UK, France, Denmark, USA and Australia. The review is of interest to designers, planners and other stakeholders, and can inform the development of guidelines for the design and maintenance of new greenways such as those proposed as part of the Nation Cycle Network in Ireland.