Interactive data analysis towards the identification of tourism features

The understanding of spatial features is an essential key for any town’s administration. The knowledge of territorial constraints and resources is the basis for planning its development. Studies show the relative importance and the high diversity of the parameters influencing the competitiveness of a territory, seen as a destination (Crouch, 2007). Therefore, the complexity in analysis, the number of stakeholders involved in the process of urban planning and their contrasted levels of expertise ask for a common vocabulary which could enhance the conception of urban proposals, notably by integrating tourism features. Scientific literature identifies the visualisation as one strong catalyst for discussion and collaboration in decision-making processes (Andrienko et al., 2007; MacEachren, Cai, & Hardisty, 2003). Therefore, this study aims to present the newer Interactive Visualisation Tool (InViTo) throughout a case study illustrating how this interface could be relevant in terms of shared and discussed information. InViTo is an on-going research project which has recently evolved from McNeel’s Rhinoceros software application (Pensa, Masala, & Marietta, 2011; Pensa, Masala, & Lami, 2013) to an internet interface. This new version is developed by the use of Google Fusion Tables, thus facilitating the visual communication, the understanding of spatial data and the interaction with contents. Spatial information can be observable at different scales, presenting a contextualised vision of territories. Furthermore, InViTo proposes the user to set a weight and a spatial dynamic to these data, thus relating decision-makers’ choices with spatial effects. In addition, the tool is flexible, because such parameters can be combined by users in real time. The operating principle will be illustrated though the identification of touristic features of a French municipality, Vertou, located in the suburban area of Nantes. The choice of the area has notably been motivated by its scale, and the way how InViTo can highlight hot spots presenting suitable (or not) characteristics for tourism or leisure activities. The gathering of datasets has been made according to the main determinants of touristic potential, identified by Crouch (2007): core resources and attractors (but also repellent elements), accessibility. Data are managed and interpreted thanks to indicators related to their nature. Along this process, the research here describes focuses on the way to integrate visibility analysis into the observable contents, thanks to 3D Isovist technique (Suleiman, Joliveau, & Favier, 2012). That interactive visualisation is a key concept that make decision-makers apprehend the method as well as the results that it leads to, making InViTo a fully usable support tool for collaborative urban conception.