Events

Boat traffic will be modeled here as a series of discrete events. The activity of the boat will be described by four distinct events:

1.

Boater decides to embark

2.

Boater selects destinations

3.

Boater establishes itinerary

4.

Boater embarks

The event is then recorded as the path that the boater would take from its origin to its destination, presuming that it would take the ``least cost'' path.

Apart from the boaters' behaviors, some relevant ambient conditions will be considered that are assumed to affect the nature of boat traffic:

• The boating day may be on a weekday, weekend, or a holiday. This affects the probabilities that boats embark; some boats only embark on weekends and holidays, and some boats intentionally avoid those days to avoid congestion.
• Tide changes. As Sarasota Bay is shallow, and many of the access canals restrict boats at low tides (Antonini and Box, 1996), some boats will be able to leave or anticipate a return only on a medium or a high tide.

Other conditions, such as adverse weather conditions or rain, are also important in deciding what boats embark at a given time, but will not be considered in this study.