Recreation terrain suitability mapping: a spatially explicit methodology for determining recreation potential for resource use assessment

A geographic information system (GIS) based methodology was developed for mapping recreation terrain suitability using recreation terrain suitability indices (RTSI). The methodology comprised four stages: (1) suitability variables for a recreation activity were identified by principal component analysis (PCA) of a recreation attitudinal scale, (2) a recreation suitability model was developed using spatial criteria for each suitability variable, (3) weight factors for each variable were derived from the principal component scores for each component, (4) suitability overlay mapping was implemented using GIS and the spatial criteria. The output of the methodology was a recreation suitability map portraying the spatial extent of recreation suitability of the landscape for a recreation user group. The approach is demonstrated for the example of recreational snowmobiling in the North Columbia Mountains of British Columbia. RTSI mapping provides a spatial approach to resource use mapping of recreation activity that is robust and based on recreationists’ attitudes.