The German Institute for Tourism Research is using anonymized GPS location events from the “wetter.com” app to investigate the use of this data for tourism science and practice. To this end, frequency data for ten different geometries in Schleswig-Holstein are being evaluated over the course of a year. Digitization opens up new data sources and new perspectives for existing research questions. Spatial data is of particular interest for tourism research and practice. However, there is a discrepancy between the theoretical possibilities of big data analyses and their implementation in research and practice. This independent research project aims to examine the extent to which passive GPS location events, which are recorded using the smartphone advertising ID and are generated as soon as the app user is in a defined area, can be used to measure tourism demand. To this end, anonymized frequency data for ten different destinations in Schleswig-Holstein will be examined by guest group for the year 2019.
The aim of the project is to check the validity of the data and to identify possible fields of application in tourism research and destination management.
West Coast University of Applied Sciences
German Institute for Tourism Research
Fritz-Thiedemann-Ring 20
25746 Heide