Visitor tracking combined with space analysis has recently emerged as a method for understanding the relationship between visitor temporal–spatial behaviour and spatial features. In this study, 353 visitors were tracked using handheld GPS data loggers to enable calculation of visiting proportion, average time, and average speed in each space within the Lion Grove. Using ArcGIS to superimpose tracks and conduct a kernel density analysis, the popular and less-popular spaces were determined. The characteristics of the different spatial features were then analysed using Depthmap. The Spearman correlation was then employed to analyse the relationship between visitor temporal–spatial behaviour and the characteristic values of different spaces. The results demonstrate that walking accessibility decides the probability of a first-time visit, while the main factors attracting visitors to stay depends on the visual characteristics of the space, such as visual accessibility and visual permeability.

Revegetation on sandy land has attracted worldwide attention, especially on the extremely fragile alpine eco-region of the Tibetan Plateau. However, the effectiveness of revegetation and its controlling factors have rarely been reported. We collected plant growths and species composition from seven field sites in 2011 and conducted a follow-up random investigation in 2016. The indicators, including richness and diversity, were used to compare the differences among these sites based on redundancy and cluster analyses. The results indicated that plant growth has different characteristics in different land types. The distribution and growth of Artemisia sphaerocephala, Artemisia younghusbandii and Heteropappus gouldii varied with topography, and the crown widths of A. sphaerocephala were 100.6 cm × 87.2 cm on barchan dune and 26.0 cm × 25.4 cm on moving sandy land at valley slopes. These species are likely the pioneer plants for revegetation on sandy land. It seems that sand-protecting barriers play an important role in revegetation. The stone and plastic checkerboard barriers increase plant diversity, while straw barrier promotes the plant growth. These findings provide useful guidance to the ongoing vegetation recovery on sandy land, an important component of the Project on Construction and Protection of Ecological Security Barriers on the Tibetan Plateau.

Research on the sight line design of the Classical Chinese Garden (CCG) is an important issue of CCGs’ sustainable development. Taking the Lion Grove as a case, GPS data loggers and questionnaires were employed to collect visitor temporal–spatial data and visiting motivations. We then calculated the “Revisiting Proportion” and “Average Speed” values. Furthermore, we selected the “Visual Control” values analyzed by Depthmap as an indicator of visibility. The statistical analysis of the relationship among “Revisiting Proportion”, “Average Speed”, and “Visual Control” values of each space showed that the spatial visual characteristic affected the visitor temporal–spatial distribution. Scenery spots in and around the large water pool, within one-step visual depth of each other, occupying the visual advantage of both “seeing” and “being seen”, can facilitate the transformation of sight lines and form the visual effect of “one step, one scene”. This research also proved that the sight line design of the Lion Grove was more intentional than random.