Playgrounds are more than just places for kids to have fun—they are critical community spaces that contribute to health, well-being, and social connection. Decision-makers need accurate data to know where play is happening and where investment is still needed. How do we get a sense of how often a playground is being used and if there are trends over time?
Traditionally, parks and recreation staff, researchers, and community leaders have relied on in-person observations to estimate broader usage trends —spending hours at a playground counting visitors. While this method has provided valuable insights, it comes with challenges:
- Limited observation windows. A single day or a few days of data can’t fully capture seasonal or year-over-year trends.
- Resource-intensive. Conducting in-person counts takes significant time and personnel, which is a burden for agencies with limited staff and funding.
- Overlooked users. Limiting observations to peak times, like after school or weekends, misses groups such as young children at daycare, homeschoolers, or families visiting in the evening.
To address these gaps, KABOOM! has been exploring a modern, data-driven approach using crowdsourced mobile GPS data.
Building Blocks for Measuring Usage
Over the past two years, we’ve partnered with CityData.ai to test a new method of counting playground visitors that uses anonymized crowdsourced mobile GPS data. This approach provides a more comprehensive and scalable way to track playground usage over time—without the need for on-site observers. The process involves two steps.
We start by drawing geofences– virtual boundaries–around each playground. These boundaries can be drawn around a playground structure, a larger park area, or both.
Every mobile device with GPS and location services sends multiple signals per second to nearby WiFi hubs and cell phone towers. This process allows for the identification of the location of the device within several feet anywhere on the planet. All of this data is stored in the cloud and can be accessed historically – going back as far as 2020.
Once geofences are drawn around playgrounds, we then work with CityData.ai to access historical and current mobile GPS data for each geofence to determine how many devices spend time within the virtual boundary. Each device within the geofence is ‘counted’ as one person or user of the playground. [1]
In our analysis, we include mobile GPS data for the geofence for 12 months before a new playground is built, as well as for 12 months after the new playground opens.
By analyzing this data over a 24-month period, we can:
- Compare playground use before and after a new build or renovation.
- Identify usage trends over different times of day, week, or year, as well as variations in weather and temperature.
- Assess the effects of new playspaces on usage.
CityData.ai cleans and aggregates the mobile GPS data and prepares a dashboard summarizing the data, for example as we have done in Uvalde, TX and Prince George’s County, MD. KABOOM! uses the underlying raw data to determine what changes in estimated use and foot traffic could be attributed to specific interventions, generating a short report similar to what was done in Uvalde. Alternately, the data could appear as slides similar to the findings from Prince George’s County, MD.
Turning Data into Action
This methodology helps KABOOM! and our partners understand where play is happening, where investment is still needed, and whether our work is making a difference. In places like Uvalde, TX and Prince George’s County, MD, we’ve used these insights to track how our new playspaces change a community and to advocate for more equitable access to play.
Our next step? Expanding this approach to more communities nationwide. By combining innovation with community-driven solutions, we’re making sure every child, in every community, has amazing spaces for play.
[1] We know that on playgrounds, what is likely happening is that the mobile device belongs to a parent or caregiver. And that this person is not ‘using’ the playground. However, it is likely that each person with a mobile device has at least one child with them that is using the playground. We are therefore comfortable with this estimate. In addition, there will be instances where a parent / caregiver with a mobile device has multiple children with them.