The usage characteristics of shared electric scooters are largely unknown as private operators rarely make usage data publicly available. To overcome this barrier, we developed a methodology to monitor shared e-scooters only with publicly available data. We applied the methodology to identify trips and analyze their characteristics during a two-week period in the summer of 2019 in Vienna. We estimate that approximately 68,000 shared e-scooter trips were taken during this period. The majority of

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... shared e-scooter trips are estimated to be between 500m and 2.5km: shared e-scooters are used in different distance and duration ranges compared to walking, cycling and bike-sharing, covering a niche of existing urban transport modes. The spatiotemporal analysis suggests use for recreation and tourism rather than everyday commuting, although its use as a public transport feeder mode is also estimated to be significant.