Smart Parks:

smart parks allow for individuals, whether it be children or adults, to be connected to devices while they are able to benefit from being outdoors. This would allow individuals easy access to Wi-Fi. This would remove any barriers for individuals who would benefit from becoming more physically active but are too afraid to leave their technology behind.The positives of a smart park are that it would increase the amount of people who visit the park. It creates free marketing when individuals post pictures of their socials media of them being in the park.

 

Digital kiosks and mobile apps:

A small number of smart parks offer an on- site digital display or mobile application that allows park and facility promotion. This allows citizens to register for events and activities.The positive of adding digital kiosks and mobile apps allows for both convince for the consumer. In addition, to generating more revenue for the park district and an increase of participant attendance. The Kiosks can serve as an educational tool and help younger children to learn and appreciate the history of their community.

 

Phone charging benches:

Any park that allows wi-fi must allow individuals the availability to charge their devices. Many smart parks are adding in charging stations that are solar- powered. In allowing charging accessibility it is allowing people to choose where they would like to spend their free time. With Wi-Fi and charging stations is allows for people to spend more time outside with the worry that their phone is going to run out of battery.

 

Drones:

Parks are starting to accept recreational drones. However, there are many park mangers who have concerns about how this technology can be an obstruction of personal privacy. A positive to adding drones in parks is that it can increase public safety and improve security.

 

Beacon counters:

A beacon counter is a Bluetooth enabled device that can be placed in multiple different areas. An individual can use a smartphone to detect another individuals location. This feature was liked by parents. Parents need to make sure that their child is wearing a wrist- band. The parents are then to set a maximum distance for their child, and when the child goes past that distance the alarm goes off to warn the parent. Beacon counters collect data to allow parks to know when the busiest days and hours that the parks are being used.

 

Gaming integrations:

Integrating games in parks helped to allow the youth to be more active outdoors. A few ways parks introduced gaming was by augmented reality technology and park exploration gamification. Mobile based applications like Pokémon go and geocaching games encouraged the youth to socialize during outdoor recreation by challenging children to search for collectable digital tokens that can be found within their community through geolocation technology. In doing this, it created a mix of technology and outdoor exploration for young people.