Recreational Simulation and Modeling

Welcome to the TopoFusion simulation and modeling page. We are very excited about the emerging field of recreational simulation modeling. We emphasize using automatic methods for collecting, analysing and utilizing data in simulations. We are working with faculty in the School of Renewable Natural Resources at the University of Arizona (see Related Work). We approach the problem of modeling recreational trail use, conflict and impact using intelligent agents to simulate trail users.




Above is a screenshot of TopoFusion running a simulation in the Starr Pass area. Mountain bike agents are riding the various trails in Tucson Mountain Park. The agents travel on networks automatically generated by our network algorithm. In the screenshot, the trails are colored to visualize where trail user encounters are occurring. Areas of purple and green indicate a high number of encounters while yellow and brown areas have lower encounter rates.

MODSIM '05 Paper

Click to download our MODSIM 2005 paper on the TopoFusion K-History Model - This paper describes the methodology used in our modeling approach -- from data collection to trail networks to simulation and validation.

Table of Contents

I - Tucson Mountain Park GPS Data Collection Project (data now available)
II - Information for Volunteers, including FAQ
III - Running the TopoFusion Demo Trail Simulation
IV - Running Simulations on your own data using TopoFusion
V - Advantages of using GPS data for trail simulation
VI - Discussion on Public Participation GPS trail databases
VII - Related Work

Contact Us

For further information contact:

sim@topofusion.com