Orange Business Services has announced its first “Smart Resort” in Montgenèvre, in the Alps, as part of a concept that will be developed across France.
Montgenèvre’s digital transformation is being coordinated through a “smart city” strategy, combining free Wi-Fi, a mobile app available from early December on iOS and Android, and Big Data analytics. The objectives are threefold: enhancing the mountain experience, making life easier for residents and visitors, and supporting the economic and tourism development of one of the oldest ski resorts in France.
An enriched experience for tourists and residents
The Montgenèvre mobile app brings together all the information that tourists need, wherever they need it. It allows them to access real-time information about ski lifts, piste openings in winter, or golf courses during the rest of the tourist season, for example. The free mobile app is available in English, French and Italian, and comes in both winter and summer versions. In addition, a total of 31 Wi-Fi hotspots will be set up throughout the resort to allow users to fully benefit from all the app’s features.
Skiers can check the snow reports and avalanche warnings and see the current conditions in real time from the webcams located at the side of the pistes. An interactive map available via the application lets you explore the whole of the skiing area in high resolution 3D images, with pistes mapped and detailed, showing route, slope, length, and difficulty.
Solutions for sustainable economic development
The smart resort solution allows Montgenèvre to provide visitors or residents with a truly connected city experience. Montgenèvre sends information or customised services to users when they need it, such as shuttle bus schedules and information on local cultural activities based on the user’s interests, designed to boost local economic activity.
With the Flux Vision solution from Orange Business Services, Montgenèvre also has a means of analysing population flow statistics throughout the year or around a particular event. This process, which collects and uses anonymized data from Orange’s public mobile network, contributes to decision making when important choices must be made to improve tourist services in the valley.
“For Montgenèvre, becoming a Smart Resort means offering better living conditions and leisure activities for all users of the resort, be they [sic] tourists or residents. It strengthens economic and social activity in our region and responds to the challenges of the city of the future, but in a sustainable way,” commented Guy Hermitte, Mayor of Montgenèvre (Hautes-Alpes region).
“Orange, through its Smart Cities entity, is proud to provide its expertise in the digital transformation of cities and regions to the Montgenèvre resort, by offering innovative solutions for connectivity, mobile applications and data analysis for the benefit of visitors and residents,” commented Delphine Woussen, Director of Orange Smart Cities within Orange Business Services.
The application is scalable and will continuously be updated to meet user needs.
