Computer simulation of household activity scheduling

An operational model of household activity scheduling is proposed. The model is based on a theory entailing behavioral principles of how persons acquire, represent, and use information from and about the environment. Choices of destinations and departure times are consequences of the scheduling of a set of activities to be executed in a given time cycle. Illustrative computer simulations of the operational model show realistic effects of work hours, living in or outside the center, and travel speed. Several necessary improvements of the theory and operational model are discussed, such as incorporating learning effects and choice of travel mode for home-based trip chains. Strategies outlined for empirical tests include comparisons with existing models, psychological experiments illuminating basic assumptions, and the use of geographical information systems to process travel-diary data for single cases.

Design and implementation of a daily activity scheduler in the context of a personal travel information system

How to effectively schedule individual’s daily activities in actual temporal–spatial environments is a challenging task especially when considering various dynamic conditions and constraints. In this chapter, we present a prototype of a personal daily activity scheduler based on our previously developed travel information system, where point of interest (POI) information and travel information have been integrated into an individual’s agenda service. The scheduler provides all operations based on constraints checking, agenda operations (e.g., inserting, updating and deleting activities), recommending locations, detecting deviations from schedule, detecting real-time event consequences and detecting relevant POIs. Initial tests for the basic operations indicate that the approach works well and more comprehensive tests will be conducted in the future

Mixed High-Speed, Conventional and Metro Central Rail Stations as Places to Work: The Case Study of Naples

International audienceToday, rail stations tend to be considered as nodes but also as places within an area. In this respect, different types of shops and services can be present in rail stations. High Speed Rail services tend to increase the importance of the train station as a place. Our aim is to show that in some cases, some firms extend the role of the station as a place by using high speed train stations to provide temporary offices inside them. Thus the role of the station as a place is transformed in a place to work for mobile workers, a kind of third-place. This is the case of Regus, which is the world's leading provider of flexible workspaces all over the world, supporting over 1 million customers everyday. The objective of this contribution is to identify the characteristics of the clients of the temporary Regus offices in the Naples HSR station and the role of HSR in this context. For this purpose, a recent survey has been employed, interviewing clients using Regus offices. Data concerning the clients have been collected, such as socio-economic characteristics, transport mode chosen to reach Naples and the Regus services used