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How GeoAI Improves Tourist Beach Environments: Micro-Scale UAV Detection and Spatial Analysis of Marine Debris

Author

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  • Junho Ser

    (Geospatial Science Lab, Dongguk University—Seoul Campus, 30, Pildong-ro 1-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul 04620, Republic of Korea
    AI & Big Data Research Division, Seoul Institute, 57, Nambusunhwan-ro 340-gil, Seocho-gu, Seoul 06756, Republic of Korea)

  • Byungyun Yang

    (Department of Geography Education, Dongguk University—Seoul Campus, 30, Pildong-ro 1-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul 04620, Republic of Korea)

Abstract

With coastal tourism depending on clean beaches and litter surveys remaining manual, sparse, and costly, this study coupled centimeter-resolution UAV imagery with a Grid R-CNN detector to automate debris mapping on five beaches of Wonsan Island, Korea. Thirty-one Phantom 4 flights (0.83 cm GSD) produced 31,841 orthoimages, while 11 debris classes from the AI Hub dataset trained the model. The network reached 74.9% mAP and 78%/84.7% precision–recall while processing 2.87 images s −1 on a single RTX 3060 Ti, enabling a 6 km shoreline to be surveyed in under one hour. Georeferenced detections aggregated to 25 m grids showed that 57% of high-density cells lay within 100 m of the beach entrances or landward edges, and 86% within 200 m. These micro-patterns, which are difficult to detect in meter-scale imagery, suggest that entrance-focused cleanup strategies could reduce annual maintenance costs by approximately one-fifth. This highlights the potential of centimeter-scale GeoAI in supporting sustainable beach management.

Suggested Citation

  • Junho Ser & Byungyun Yang, 2025. "How GeoAI Improves Tourist Beach Environments: Micro-Scale UAV Detection and Spatial Analysis of Marine Debris," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-14, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:7:p:1349-:d:1687250
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Williams, Allan Thomas & Rangel-Buitrago, Nelson Guillermo & Anfuso, Giorgio & Cervantes, Omar & Botero, Camilo Mateo, 2016. "Litter impacts on scenery and tourism on the Colombian north Caribbean coast," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 209-224.
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