FLIXDATE

Floating Ski Data by GNSS

Aims

Development of a complete demonstration system for alpine ski sport traffic analysis, traffic routing and for collision avoidance on ski slopes

Brief Description

FLIXDATE will be an application R&D project – it focuses on the development of an integrative demonstration system for ski traffic management and detecting dangerous zones in skiing slopes based on GNSS and sophisticated algorithms in relation to user requirements. The floating ski data collection is based on GNSS (e.g. GPS/EGNOS) as positioning source. As data acquisition tool a smart phone equipped with an applet provided by the skiing resort is envisaged. Together with the safety aim of this applet, a slope map as help for skiers to find restaurants, parking places, etc or “outdoor games” can be included. For the best local performance EDAS data are obtained via PANDAS (Positioning and Navigation Data Assistance Service) will mainly be used to augment the position solution and to obtain more accurate position and speed information. The advantage of Galileo will also be investigated during the project work. The system will benefit from the increased number of visible satellites in future since slopes are often aligned towards North. A cost effective near-real-time communication link will be installed via WLAN only on dedicated locations in the skiing resort (e.g. valley stations, ski huts).

Data evaluations will be used to generate near-real-time traffic information on the slopes. This information can be used to guide skiers to non-crowded areas and, thus, to optimize skier streams throughout the skiing area. The guidance of skiers is presented on information screens and electronic traffic signs.

Due the FLIXDATE system skiing resorts will raise the number of skiers and therefore improve their incomes in parallel with increase of safety on slopes.