1. VISWALK Pedestrian Modelling
Maria Bacon - AECOM
12th Feb 2012

2. What is VISWALK. What is behind it
What is VISWALK? What is behind it? Dynamic potential Validation of the software Pedestrian routing Outputs Future potential Examples Questions

3. VISWALK What is it?

4. What is pedestrian micro-simulation?
The accurate simulated representation of people walking - every step
Simulation of the interaction of pedestrians in crowds
Simulation of the interaction between pedestrians and the built environment
The accurate simulation of the interaction between pedestrians and private or public modes of transport
Built environment:
Can include walls, windows, ticket gates, stairs, check-in desks, escalators, street furniture, etc.
Pedestrian simulation is about:
Investigating current planning issues and getting aware of planning issues as they become apparent in simulation
 It sets the planners‘ mind on the right track

5. What is pedestrian micro-simulation?

6. VISWALK What is behind it?

7. What is the science behind VISWALK?
VISWALK has been developed based upon the Social Force Model (SFM) originally introduced in 1995 by Prof. Helbing from Dresden University (now ETH Zurich). Since then the SFM has continually been updated.
Widely commented upon in the scientific community the SFM is now well accepted amongst the transport planning and academic communities.
Prof. D. Helbing
Pedestrians‘ psychology was examined by serious researchers (Prof. D. Helbing). For VISWALK we were able to assign the examinations results to new algorithms that now lead to better results.
Examples shown are:
The simplest are like-for-like comparison of simulated versus real-life situations.
There are a number of simple tests that can be applied to ‘check’ whether a pedestrian simulation software package provides realistic pedestrian behaviour.
Striping or complex cross flows interaction of pedestrians
Pedestrian self-organization (‘laning’) or pedestrian behavior optimization
Mass Event – The ability to accommodate large numbers of pedestrians
Interaction with vehicular traffic
Queuing behaviors
Vertical circulation usage

8. What is the science behind VISWALK?
VELOCE (VEhicle Location & Operation Control Environment)
What is the science behind VISWALK?
Social Force Model - Principles:
> Social Forces represent the effect of the “environment”, e.g. other pedestrians, boundaries and obstructions influence the behaviour of pedestrians!
The Social Forces Model (SFM):
Was developed in 1995 and has continually been updated ever since. SFM is now well accepted amongst the transport planning and academic communities and widely commented.
The SFM examines how pedestrians‘ environment (other pedestrians, obstacles, …) effects their behaviour and the resulting physical effects (an acceleration or deceleration force)
Software Scientists were able to put the SFM-concept into a mathematical form and to apply the resulting algorithms to simulate pedestrian movement
Professor Dirk Helbing of the Institute for Transport & Economics, Dresden University, Germany Developed the Social Forces Model (SFM)
It is suitable to be presented in the academic world and for technical discussions. (\\Ska-em-f00\ti3\Marketing\Präsentationen\VISWALK\für_Helbing\Pedestrian_Simulation_-_Foundations)
Tobias Kretz created a technical version of this presentation.

9. Presentation Title
December 29, 2018

10. Spontaneous self-organization
Lane formation in counterflow

11. Spontaneous self-organization
Stripe formation in crossing flows

12. VISWALK Dynamic potential

13. BUT What is a dynamic potential? Shortest vs. quickest route
Pedestrians often want to arrive as soon as possible at their destination. In general the quickest route is very similar to the shortest
BUT
There are some cases where this is anything but true
Shortest Route
Many of today’s pedestrian simulation software packages are based only upon shortest path. That is to say a pedestrian will always take the shortest (straight line) route to his or her final or interim destinations.. .this approach can be limited which might be useful in some situations
In a number of simulated contexts it can lead to unrealistic bunching and blocking occurring within the simulations…
This can often mean that the modeler either has to remodel these areas or modify the simulated behavior of each pedestrian, costing time and money and taking away from the benefit of iterative design simulations.
Dynamic Route Assignment
Travel Time matters to pedestrians which is why having the VISWALK’s Dynamic Route Assignment functionality is leading the way.
As well as offering shortest route assignment VISWALK leads the way in offering Dynamic Route Assignment…. Not seen since Pedroute and Paxport a reflection of real pedestrian route choice.
Dynamic Route Assignment is the function that allows VISWALK’s pedestrians to base their movement decisions on the criterion..
‘Which direction at a point of time offers them the smallest remaining travel time?

14. Example of the effect of the dynamic potential
> corners
> counterflow
> evading a large and growing group – “station hall”
> two corridors – discrete choice
> leaving a grandstand

15. Example of the effect of the dynamic potential
Geometry modelled according to entry area of ICC Berlin

16. Example of the effect of the dynamic potential

17. VISWALK Validation of the software

18. VELOCE (Vehicle Location & Operation Control Environment)
Validation of VISWALK
How to check the quality of a simulation (of pedestrians)?
Compare the simulation:
Number of pedestrian related to walking behavior
If no data from experiment or observation is available at all:
compare two simulations using intuition to tell the better one

19. Validation of VISWALK Experiment and simulation
VELOCE (Vehicle Location & Operation Control Environment)
Validation of VISWALK
Experiment and simulation
Lane-formation in counterflow

20. Validation of VISWALK Experiment and simulation
VELOCE (Vehicle Location & Operation Control Environment)
Validation of VISWALK
Experiment and simulation
The fundamental diagram (1D)

21. VELOCE (VEhicle Location & Operation Control Environment)
Validation of VISWALK
Qualitative comparison of experiment and simulation
Obstacle before bottleneck can increase the flow - experiment
Helbing et al. Self-Organized Pedestrian Crowd Dynamics

22. VELOCE (VEhicle Location & Operation Control Environment)
Validation of VISWALK
Qualitative comparison of experiment and simulation
Obstacle before bottleneck can increase the flow; simulation

23. VISWALK Pedestrian Routing

24. Pedestrian routing functionality
Static Routes
From A to B
Partial Routes
In addition to the option to choose between shortest and quickest path routing Partial Routes are offered to address similar problems.
Shortest Route
Many of today’s pedestrian simulation software packages are based only upon shortest path. That is to say a pedestrian will always take the shortest (straight line) route to his or her final or interim destinations.. This approach can be limited which might be useful in some situations.
In a number of simulated contexts it can lead to unrealistic bunching and blocking occurring within the simulations…
This often means that the modeller either has to remodel these areas or modify the simulated behaviour of each pedestrian, wasting time and money. Additionally, they cannot take advantage of iterative design simulations.
Dynamic Route Assignment
Travel Time matters to pedestrians which is why having the VISWALK’s Dynamic Route Assignment functionality is leading the way.
In terms of offering the shortest route assignment VISWALK leads the way in offering Dynamic Route Assignment…. Not seen since Pedroute and Paxport a reflection of real pedestrian route choice.
Dynamic Route Assignment is the function that allows VISWALK’s pedestrians to base their movement decisions on the criterion..
‘Which direction offers them the shortest remaining travel time at a specific point in time ?

25. Pedestrian routing functionality
Partial Routes: Static
Statically located re-routing areas
Shortest Route
Many of today’s pedestrian simulation software packages are based only upon shortest path. That is to say a pedestrian will always take the shortest (straight line) route to his or her final or interim destinations.. This approach can be limited which might be useful in some situations.
In a number of simulated contexts it can lead to unrealistic bunching and blocking occurring within the simulations…
This often means that the modeller either has to remodel these areas or modify the simulated behaviour of each pedestrian, wasting time and money. Additionally, they cannot take advantage of iterative design simulations.
Dynamic Route Assignment
Travel Time matters to pedestrians which is why having the VISWALK’s Dynamic Route Assignment functionality is leading the way.
In terms of offering the shortest route assignment VISWALK leads the way in offering Dynamic Route Assignment…. Not seen since Pedroute and Paxport a reflection of real pedestrian route choice.
Dynamic Route Assignment is the function that allows VISWALK’s pedestrians to base their movement decisions on the criterion..
‘Which direction offers them the shortest remaining travel time at a specific point in time ?

26. Pedestrian routing functionality
Partial Routes: Dynamic
Based on travel time of preceding pedestrians
Shortest Route
Many of today’s pedestrian simulation software packages are based only upon shortest path. That is to say a pedestrian will always take the shortest (straight line) route to his or her final or interim destinations.. This approach can be limited which might be useful in some situations.
In a number of simulated contexts it can lead to unrealistic bunching and blocking occurring within the simulations…
This often means that the modeller either has to remodel these areas or modify the simulated behaviour of each pedestrian, wasting time and money. Additionally, they cannot take advantage of iterative design simulations.
Dynamic Route Assignment
Travel Time matters to pedestrians which is why having the VISWALK’s Dynamic Route Assignment functionality is leading the way.
In terms of offering the shortest route assignment VISWALK leads the way in offering Dynamic Route Assignment…. Not seen since Pedroute and Paxport a reflection of real pedestrian route choice.
Dynamic Route Assignment is the function that allows VISWALK’s pedestrians to base their movement decisions on the criterion..
‘Which direction offers them the shortest remaining travel time at a specific point in time ?

27. Pedestrian routing functionality
Partial Routes: Dynamic
Based on queue length
Shortest Route
Many of today’s pedestrian simulation software packages are based only upon shortest path. That is to say a pedestrian will always take the shortest (straight line) route to his or her final or interim destinations.. This approach can be limited which might be useful in some situations.
In a number of simulated contexts it can lead to unrealistic bunching and blocking occurring within the simulations…
This often means that the modeller either has to remodel these areas or modify the simulated behaviour of each pedestrian, wasting time and money. Additionally, they cannot take advantage of iterative design simulations.
Dynamic Route Assignment
Travel Time matters to pedestrians which is why having the VISWALK’s Dynamic Route Assignment functionality is leading the way.
In terms of offering the shortest route assignment VISWALK leads the way in offering Dynamic Route Assignment…. Not seen since Pedroute and Paxport a reflection of real pedestrian route choice.
Dynamic Route Assignment is the function that allows VISWALK’s pedestrians to base their movement decisions on the criterion..
‘Which direction offers them the shortest remaining travel time at a specific point in time ?

28. VISWALK Outputs

29. What types of output does VISWALK provide?
LOS grid coarse
LOS grid fine

30. What types of output does VISWALK provide?
Model view
LOS view

31. What types of output does VISWALK provide?
Travel time measurement configuration
Area measurement configuration

32. What types of output does VISWALK provide?
Pedestrian info window
Pedestrian record configuration

33. What types of output does VISWALK provide?
2D simulation
3D simulation

34. VISWALK Future potential

35. Future Developments Future Developments:
> Allow the simulation of groups of pedestrians
> Specific pedestrian types
> Baggage….
> Simulate trolleys (airport specific)

36. MELBOURNE PIER

37. QUESTIONS