Evaluation of remote sensing and unmanned aerial vehicle use opportunities in determination of nature parks trekking routes (Afyon-Akdağ Nature Park sample)

The need to meet with nature, renew and refresh is one of the activities carried out regularly by human beings since the past. Especially in recent years, with the rapid increase in urbanization, the need for nature has increased. After the Covid-19 epidemic, which has recently affected the whole world, the mobility of life has dropped to the lowest level and the need for natural areas has continued to increase. Nature parks operating under the General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks (NCNP) in terms of planning in Turkey are areas where people can safely meet with nature. It is more efficient to put central planning and planning experiences into practice in units that carry out activities by the state. In this study, data sets obtained from Remote Sensing (RS) data sets and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) devices can be used for practitioners, plan makers and decision makers with the help of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to reveal alternative routes in areas where trekking planning is needed in nature parks. It is aimed to express an analysis environment. In this context, using the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the study area and the Digital Terrain Model (DTM) data sets obtained after the flights performed with the UAV device in the field, data on the height and slope criteria were produced. In addition, in this study, in the multi-criteria decision-making process, the distance to roads and distance to streams criteria were obtained from the institution and trekking suitability maps were produced with a total of four criteria. Using the trekking suitability maps obtained, three different trekking routes were evaluated in the context of DEM and DTM data sets within the scope of the study. It is thought that the use of high-precision UAV datasets will provide advantages, depending on the planning purpose and location information, in the trekking route planning studies to be revealed with the help of GIS in nature parks.