Mapping recreation as an ecosystem service: Considering scale, interregional differences and the influence of physical attributes

Methods to map nature-based recreation are increasingly used, especially in ecosystem services research and practice. Researchers that map nature-based recreation beyond local scales, however, have relied much on physical attributes, e.g. land cover and topography. In such instances the recreational potential of land is modeled based on expert judgement and not on public preferences. Participatory mapping data is based on public preferences and as such can be used to improve proxy-based methods to map the recreational potential of land. In this paper, we use data from an online mapping survey (the Hotspotmonitor/Greenmapper) to spatially analyze the recreational potential of land. We employed point pattern analyses to 1) investigate which physical attributes contribute to the recreational potential of land, at both a regional and a national scale, and 2) how preferences for such attributes differ between respondents from distinct geographical regions. We find that interregional differences, whereas prominent at the regional scale, are small at national scale, suggesting there is a shared understanding of what places are 'hotspots' for recreation within the Netherlands. These hotspots, however, are difficult to map using physical attributes alone. Discussing these discrepancies, our paper provides insights that contribute to a better understanding and mapping of the recreational potential of land.