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The proliferation of indoor and outdoor tracking devices has led to a vast amount of spatial data. Each object can be described by several trajectories that, once analysed, can yield to significant knowledge. In particular, pattern analysis by clustering generic trajectories can give insight into objects sharing the same patterns. Still, sequential clustering approaches fail to handle large volumes of data. Hence, the necessity of distributed systems to be able to infer knowledge in a trivial time interval. In this paper, we detail an efficient, scalable and distributed execution pipeline for clustering raw trajectories. The clustering is achieved via a fuzzy similarity relation obtained by the transitive closure of a proximity relation. Moreover, the pipeline is integrated in Spark, implemented in Scala and leverages the Core and Graphx libraries making use of Resilient Distributed Datasets (RDD) and graph processing. Furthermore, a new simple, but very efficient, partitioning logic has been deployed in Spark and integrated into the execution process. The objective behind this logic is to equally distribute the load among all executors by considering the complexity of the data. In particular, resolving the load balancing issue has reduced the conventional execution time in an important manner. Evaluation and performance of the whole distributed process has been analysed by handling the Geolife project’s GPS trajectory dataset.

The study of collective movement of pedestrians is crucial in various situations, such as evacuation of buildings, stadiums, or external events like concerts or public events. In such situations and under panic conditions, several incidents and disasters may arise, resulting in loss of human lives. Hence, the study and modeling of the pedestrians behavior are imperative in both normal and panic situations. In a previous work, we developed a microscopic model for pedestrian movement based on the algorithm of Ant Colonies and the principles of cellular automata. We took advantage of a fuzzy model to better reflect the uncertainty and vagueness of the perception of space to pedestrians, especially to represent the desirability or blurred visibility of virtual pedestrians. This paper uses the mechanism of artificial potential fields. Said fields provide virtual pedestrians with better visibility of their surroundings and its various components (goals and obstacles). The predictions provided by the first-order traffic flow theory are confirmed by the results of the simulation. The advantage of this model lies in the combination of benefits provided by the model of ants and artificial potential fields in a fuzzy modeling, to better understand the perceptions of pedestrians.