Ridersguide: The first real-time navigation system for ski slopes

Abstract

Although being great fun to exercise, skiing and snowboarding entail the risk of accidents such as any other high-energy participation sport. A factor increasing the risk of accidents is foggy weather, when the view limited to a few meters and safety-critical areas such as crossings, steep areas, obstacles and the edges of the slope cannot be made out. In this paper, we present a prototype of a navigation system supporting the wayfinding of skiers and snowboarders on ski slopes. It consists of a mobile computing device with a GPS receiver and an audio and visual feedback system. In its basic functionality, the prototype recognizes when skiers and snowboarders approach safety-critical areas and generates corresponding warnings. It is moreover capable of guiding skiers and snowboarders down the slope on safe paths to minimize risk with the help of routing instructions. We evaluated our prototype system on ski slopes in Grindelwald and Savognin, Switzerland, in a user study with 20 participants. According to the study, safety warnings, which have to be perceived instantly, are recognized best through spoken audio messages. Contrariwise, video feedback outperforms natural speech regarding routing instructions.