Designing outdoor emergency rescue stations based on the spatiotemporal behavior of outdoor adventure tourists using GPS trajectory data

Abstract

While outdoor travel has become an increasingly popular phenomenon, its high accident rate remains a significant concern. It is important to reasonably design emergency rescue stations based on the behavioral characteristics of outdoor adventure tourists. However, previous studies have mainly relied on static population information, which cannot capture adventure tourists’ spatiotemporal behaviors. To overcome this disadvantage, we obtained the GPS trajectory data of adventure tourists in Shenzhen from the “2bulu” platform, covering three types of travel groups: hiking, cycling, and driving. The seasonal characteristics, intra-day activities, and trajectory distributions of outdoor adventure tourists were analyzed. On this basis, we used a genetic algorithm to determine the optimal locations of rescue stations, taking into account both socioeconomic and natural conditions. The results show that outdoor adventure tourists have seasonal preferences, with the majority traveling during the summer and being most active between 5 and 9 a.m. The travel trajectories of these tourists exhibited a linear distribution pattern with several hotspots. In addition, the optimal rescue stations are mainly distributed at the junctions of districts, which can cover most outdoor scenic spots in Shenzhen. These findings could provide decision support for ensuring the safety of outdoor adventures.