All the protestors fit to count: using geospatial affordances to estimate protest event size

Fitzpatrick, Austin

Abstract

Protest events are a hallmark of social movement tactics. Large crowds in public spaces send a clear message to those in authority. Consequently, estimating crowd size is important for clarifying how much support a particular movement has been able to garner. This is significant for policymakers and constructing public opinion alike. Efforts to accurately estimate crowd size are plagued with issues: the cost of renting aircraft (if done by air), the challenge of visibility and securing building access (if done by rooftops), and issues related to perspective and scale (if done on the ground). Airborne camera platforms like drones, balloons, and kites are geospatial affordances that open new opportunities to better estimate crowd size. In this article we adapt traditional aerial imaging techniques for deployment on an “unmanned aerial vehicle” (UAV, popularly drone) and apply the method to small (1,000) and large (30,000+) events. Ethical guidelines related to drone safety are advanced, questions related to privacy are raised, and we conclude with a discussion of what standards should guide new technologies if they are to be used for the public good.

Citation

Fitzpatrick, A. (2018). All the protestors fit to count: using geospatial affordances to estimate protest event size. Interface: a journal for and about social movements, 10(1-2), 297-321

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 18, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Dec 20, 2018
• Publication Date: 2018
• Deposit Date: Jan 5, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 15, 2021
• Journal: Interface: a journal for and about social movements
• Print ISSN: 2009-2431
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 1-2
• Pages: 297-321
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5200259
• Publisher URL: https://www.interfacejournal.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Interface-10-1-2-Choi-Fitzpatrick-et-al.pdf