Skip to Content

Resource hub

Mapping natural, historical and built heritage values in St Helena Island using geolocated social media 2019

Abstract

Mapping natural, historical and built heritage values using social media content is a relatively recent methodology that capitalises upon the widespread use of web-based social media platforms. It typically involves the connection to the Application Programming Interface (API) of a social media provider (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Flickr, etc.) and downloading ‘geolocated’ public posts, user data and metadata that are of interest for a specific application. For example, using the public Twitter API one can have access to recent posts (’tweets’) by all public users from a specific location and to the tweets’ and users’ data and metadata such as: location the tweet was sent from (if the user has enabled location); users’ stated home place and; time the tweet was sent. Thus, one can use this information to map Twitter activity. Using photograph-based social media such as Instagram and Flickr is done in a similar way (see below for a more detailed explanation).

This study was undertaken as part of a programme of Natural Capital Assessments (NCAs) in the UK's South Atlantic Overseas Territories implemented by JNCC and conducted by SAERI. Funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) of the UK Government through the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF), the work sits under the Environmental Resilience programme which includes objectives to integrate natural capital considerations into economic and social development planning.

Resource type Publication

Topic category Environment

Reference date 2019·03·01

Citation
Bormpoudakis, D., Fish, R., Smith, N. 2019. Mapping natural, historical and built heritage values in St Helena Island using geolocated social media. Natural Capital in the UK’s Overseas Territories Report Series – Supplementary Report (South Atlantic Region). Contracted report to JNCC

Lineage
Contracted report to JNCC as part of the 'Natural Capital in the Caribbean and South Atlantic Overseas Territories: Valuation, Vulnerability and Monitoring Change' project.

Responsible organisation
Communications, JNCC distributor

Limitations on public access No limitations

Use constraints Open, cite source of data

Metadata date 2021·01·18

Metadata point of contact
Communications, JNCC

Back to top