Queues in ski resort graphs: the Ski-Optim Model

Ponencias, comunicaciones y pósters presentados en el 17th AGILE Conference on Geographic Information Science "Connecting a Digital Europe through Location and Place", celebrado en la Universitat Jaume I del 3 al 6 de junio de 2014.It is rather unknown how skiers move inside ski areas. However, new data collection systems, such as RFID chips on ski passes (which allow counting skiers at the gates of the cableways), can be used to analyse the movement of skiers in the cableways network and in the ski runs graph. This will show how queues arise at the cableways departures and how crowds are formed on the ski runs. This short paper is reporting a multi-agent simulation approach called Ski-Optim to study graphs and queues arising in a ski area. A software simulation was experimented on the ski area of Verbier in Switzerland

Potential of open innovation models in the tourism sector ::three case studies

In the framework of an applied research project, three examples of virtual processes on touristic innovation in Switzerland were monitored from the beginning until the end. The three case studies were the Swiss Federal Railways Real Estate in Berne, the Valais State Rescue Organization in Sierre, and the Graubünden Tourism in Chur. The aim of documenting these observations was to have an in-depth understanding of the implementation of the Open Innovation approach in the tourism sector. The different enterprises formulated a question in a form of a problem to solve. This question was put on the website www.​atizo.​com, for 6–8 weeks. During that period, the enterprise could collect a wide spectrum of ideas from the public, some of which were truly innovative. Prises were awarded to the best ideas. Three interviews conducted by the enterprise were performed. In the framework of this research project, one managed to derive ideas and gather results that illustrated the workings behind the innovation process conducted by Swiss tourism enterprises. This chapter also evaluates the innovation process of the Swiss tourism enterprises, especially regarding crowdsourcing, the advantages and inconveniences of Open Innovation models, and finally looks at success factors and obstacles related to the implementation of the Open Innovation projects

Initiating adaptation to climate change Results from a participatory research project in Switzerland

Climate change adaptation has become to be a major issue in many tourism dependent areas around the world. While the general importance to put in place adaptation measures is widely recognized by scholars, politicians and practitioners in the field, the planning and implementation of specific measures has been neglected in many cases. Within the EU Alpine Space Project ClimAlpTour a strong linkage between academic scholars, tourism stakeholders and political actors has been established in order to allow for a participatory research process to tackle the issue. Within the document at hand, we will focus on the results from a participatory research process in three Swiss pilot regions, conducted with the goal of developing region-specific adaptation measures and strategies

Canicule 04

Le colloque international «CANICULE 04 / HEAT WAVE 04», qui s'est déroulé le 8 et 9 juin 2004 à Genève, s'est proposé comme objectif de tirer les leçons de l'été 2003, pour éviter autant que possible les drames du dernier juillet et août. La canicule de 2003 tua environ 25'000 personnes en Europe, et la plupart des victimes étaient des personnes fragiles, dont particulièrement les personnes âgées. Des professionnels de la météo, de la politique, des responsables de santé, des professionnels du terrain, que ce soit aux urgences, aux domiciles ou aux institutions, ainsi que des représentants de personnes âgées, ont discuté et présenté leurs perspectives, interprétations et conseils à propos du sujet pour trouver ensemble un plan simple pour les futures canicules. Un but additionnel était d'approfondir la collaboration interdisciplinaire entre les professionnels. Par ailleurs, les participants ont souligné la nécessité d'informer la population sur les effets liés aux fortes chaleurs, ainsi que sur les possibilités de prévention des dangers associés