A simple framework to simulate the mobility and activity of theme park visitors

Human mobility often needs to be simulated in order to evaluate various designs in transportation and urban planning. Our target application is the design and evaluation of wireless networks and services for new theme park experiences. The performance of some wireless networks, such as mobile ad hoc networks, strongly depends on human mobility. Therefore, we developed a tool named ParkSim that allows us to simulate the mobility of theme park visitors. The tool implements an activity-based mobility model, where the mobility of park visitors is driven by the activities they wish to perform in the park. The tool is calibrated based on GPS tracks collected in an entertainment theme park and validated on a number of metrics that are relevant for the performance of wireless ad hoc networks. ParkSim will be extended to enable the evaluation of new strategies to balance the number of people in different park areas.