Name: Middela Mounisai Siddartha

Roll No: 141717

3. PEDESTRIAN SIMULATION USING VISWALK

3.1 Aim: To simulate the pedestrian traffic realistically and analyze walking behavior.
3.2 Back ground
VISWALK was developed by PTV vision, a worldwide leading software suite for
transportation planning and operations analyses. PTV Vision provides a full range of solutions
including VISUM, VISSIM, VISWALK and further complementary modules. The software suite
offers a high level of integration within the overall transportation planning process and, in
particular, between strategic planning, transport operations and traffic engineering for macro-,
meso- and microscopic application levels.
Viswalk is developed in order to allow for simulations with a realistic behavior in
pedestrians as well as the possibility to simulate complex situations. This can be done both in
interaction with traffic (in combination with Vissim) and without (PTV Group, 2011).
The most prevalent mode of transport was and remains walking. But unlike vehicles,
pedestrians are individuals and do not follow strict rules. They spontaneously stop, change
directions or make sudden turns.
VISWALK realistically simulates and analyses walking behavior as no other software. It
is suitable for all those, who take the needs of pedestrians into account in their projects or
studies, i.e. transport planners and consultants, architects and operators of large buildings and
large public spaces, event managers or fire prevention officers.
Pedestrian behavior in Viswalk is based on what is known as the Social Force Model.
This model takes the somewhat irrational behavior of pedestrians into account. According to
Helbing and Molnr (1995), the motion of pedestrians can be considered as a result of human
beings being subjected to forces. These forces consist of several internal motivations that
together allows for the individual to move in a certain way or direction. The force, F, that causes
pedestrians to decelerate or accelerate consists of four terms:
F = Fdriving + Fsocial + Fwall + Fnoise
Where,
Fdriving: Driving force in the desired direction
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Roll No: 141717
Fsocial: Forces between pedestrians
Fwall: Forces from walls
Fnoise: A random force term that is implemented in order to prevent deadlocks at
bottlenecks.
Most likely, the most significant motivation for a pedestrian to move is his or her desire
to reach a certain destination as soon and as comfortable as possible. However, there are some
factors that influence the pedestrians path and speed towards reaching the destination. Keeping
the distance to obstacles, buildings or objects, and not to forget other pedestrians, is one
important factor. Another is possible attractive effects of the motion, such as seeing a friend or a
window display, which can make the pedestrian slow down momentarily or even stop or take a
detour. All these factors are essential in the Social Force Model. A visualization of the model can
be seen in Figure.

Fig 1. Figure visualizing important attributes of the Social Force Model

Due to the internal motivations and forces, pedestrians are automatically forming selforganizing lanes of people walking in the same direction when encountering an opposing flow
(Laufer, 2008). A visualization of this can be seen in Fig 2. At narrow passages, the walking
direction will change in oscillatory patterns. As a result of this, Viswalk allows for a realistic
modeling of the pedestrian walking behavior.
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Name: Middela Mounisai Siddartha

Roll No: 141717

Fig 2. Figure showing self-organized lanes of pedestrians in a narrow passage. Black/white

pedestrians are walking in one direction and grey pedestrians in the other (PTV Group, 2010).
VISSIM, the traffic simulation solution from the PTV Vision software suite, started on
the street. For analysis and simulation of complex traffic situations, it has been used around the
world for many years. Whether you implement urban design plans or plan intersection or
junction sequences with VISSIM you model your influence on traffic flow in the simulation.
Furthermore you are able to measure the impact of traffic and traffic signal control on the
respective waiting times. VISWALK and VISSIM is the fully integrated package from PTV that
allows you to simulate the interaction of pedestrians and road traffic.
3.3 PTV Viswalk Functions
3.3.1 Graphical editor (GUI) that allows users to work with the following elements:
1. Areas as walkable space for pedestrians (rectangles, any polygons)
2. Obstacles blocking the walkable areas to pedestrians (rectangles, as polygons)
3. CAD import (DWG files) for areas and obstacles
4. Option of integrating additional formats as a background image (JPG, PNG, BMP, DXF,
DWG, SHP and others)
5. Routes predefining the pedestrians' walk from area to area
6. Routing decisions where the pedestrians chooses a route from the set of routes
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Roll No: 141717
7. Inputs that define by time interval how many pedestrians will enter the simulation at which
time
8. Alternative option to the inputs/routes concept: definition of demand and routes using origindestination matrices (interval-dependent)
9. Access to the model parameters (Social Force Model), including desired speed
10. Desired speed distributions which can be entered and changed according to user preferences
11. Unlimited number of levels (storeys)
12. Ramps and stairs connecting levels
13. Escalators (and moving walkways) connecting two levels
14. Moving walkways which - similar to escalators, but without a difference in height - also
move standing pedestrians
15. 2D view and 3D view are already provided during the simulation and model creation. Users
can toggle between the two views
16. LOS display
17. AVI recording of animation - results export to 3D Studio Max PTV Viswalk and replay in
PTV Viswalk
18. Flexible design options for areas, obstacles and pedestrian models
19. Possibility of assigning individual areas different walking behaviours (speed distribution and
parameters)
3.3.2 Measurement areas
1. Measurement of various parameters of individual pedestrians (e.g. time spent at measurement
area, average speed, etc.)Time-aggregated measurements
2. Journey time and distance measurement: "from area A to area B"
3. Queuing data and -analysis (time-aggregated)
4. Congestion identification
5. Partial routes for local redistribution in line with the implicitly or explicitly defined origindestination matrix
6. Dynamic potential: calculation of the desired direction based on the estimated remaining
journey time (in contrast to the calculation of the desired direction based on the shortest
distance). "One-shot assignment"
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7. Priority rules: adoption of this concept from the PTV Vissim vehicle simulation allows for
the simulation of specific situations, such as:
8. COM access
9. High time resolution: up to 10 simulation steps per second
3.4 Applications
VISWALK can be effectively used in the following applications:
1. Space optimization and capacity planning
Simulate pedestrians behavior and design spaces in order to utilize them to the utmost extent.
This includes for example shopping malls, stadiums etc. Evacuation analysis Plan secure
ingress and egress flows and escape routes for example for train stations, airports, stadiums
etc.
2. Plan and optimize mass attendee events
Develop proper crowd and site management strategies for high density events such as
Olympic Games or other important sports events, concerts, festivals, etc.
3. Routing and queuing analysis
Shorten queuing times and guide pedestrians via alternative routes.
4. Assessment of alternatives
Compare costs and efforts of alternative planning and easily demonstrate the results.
5. Dwell time analysis
Establish boarding and alighting times for public means of transport and use VISSIM to
simulate a complete operation of a rail or metro network.

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Roll No: 141717
3.5 Benefits
1. Scientific approach
Use simulation software based on latest scientific insights and validated against empirical
measurements.
2. High levels of demand
Accommodate an extensive population density of more than 100,000 in a single
simulation.
3. Efficiency
Reduce costs and project times by concurrently building your 2D and 3D models directly
in VISWALK.
4. Usability
Start immediately your work and concentrate on your project, thanks to easy handling
and comprehensive functionality of VISWALK.
5. Visualisation
Simulate 2D and 3D output with just a click of a button.
3.6 Differences between Pedestrian and Traffic Simulations
In many ways pedestrian flow are similar to those used for vehicular flow because it can
be described in terms of familiar variables such as speed, volume, rate of flow and density. Other
measures related specifically to pedestrian flow include the ability to cross a pedestrian traffic
stream, to walk in the reverse direction of a major pedestrian flow, to manoeuvre generally
without conflicts and changes in walking speed, and the delay experienced by pedestrians at
signalized and unsignalized intersections. It is dissimilar to the vehicular flow in that pedestrian
flow may be unidirectional, bidirectional, or multi-directional. Pedestrian do not always travel in
clear lanes although they may do sometimes under heavy flow.

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Roll No: 141717
Vehicular simulation
1. The size of vehicle is large
2. Movement of vehicle is unidirectional
3. Speed of vehicle is high
4. it is comparably less depend upon
psychological behavior of human here
vehicle power is also considerable
5. Here density comes into picture

Pedestrian simulation
1. The size of pedestrian is less
2. Movement of pedestrian is
multidirectional
3. Speed of pedestrian is considerably low
4. It depends upon psychological behavior
of human
5. Here space comes into picture

3.6.1 Fundamental Relationships of Pedestrian Flow

The fundamental relationship between speed, density, and volume for pedestrian flow is
analogous to vehicular flow. As volume and density increase, pedestrian speed declines. As
density increases and pedestrian space decreases, the degree of mobility afforded to the
individual pedestrian declines, as does the average speed of the pedestrian stream

Fig 3. Relationship between pedestrian speed and density

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Roll No: 141717
Flow-Density Relationships The relationship among density, speed, and flow for
pedestrians is similar to that for vehicular traffic streams, and is expressed in equation.
Qped = Sped Dped

where, Qped= unit flow rate (p/min/m),

Sped= pedestrian speed (m/min), and
Dped= pedestrian density (p/m2).
Pedestrian density is an awkward variable in that it has fractional values in pedestrian per
square meter. This relationship often expressed in terms of Space module (M) which is the
inverse of pedestrian density. The inverse of density is more practical unit for analyzing
pedestrian facilities ,so expression becomes
Qped = Sped / M
where M in(m2/ped).

Fig 4. Relationship between pedestrian space & flow

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Fig 5. Relationships between Pedestrian Speed and Flow

Fig 6. Relationships between Pedestrian Speed and Space

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Roll No: 141717
3.6.2 Fundamental Relations of traffic flow:

Fig 7. Fundamental Relations of Traffic Flow

3.7 Case Study

3.7.1 Project: Pedestrian Footbridge Analysis for a Stadium.
3.7.2 Location : Perth, Australia
3.7.3 Overview: Perth is in the process of planning for a new 60,000 seat sporting stadium to be
located on the Burswood Peninsula. As a part of meeting the necessary mode share targets for
this facility and ensuring a safe and comfortable pedestrian environment two major pedestrian
footbridges are being planned and delivered.
1. A 575m long 10 m wide structure on the western side linking the peninsula over the swan
river to the East Perth designed to process 12,500 people.

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Roll No: 141717
2. A 230 m long 15.3 m wide structure on the eastern side linking the facility with the car
park designed to process 14,000 people.
3.7.4 Study:
Urbsol (Urban Solutions Private Limited) was engaged by the public transport authority
(PTA) through BG&E to undertake a pedestrian capacity analysis of the two key pedestrian
footbridges to ensure their operation would remain within the acceptable levels of service during
peak loading or unloading times.

Fig 8. Pedestrian simulation in VISWALK

The peak loading or unloading times scenario meant that unidirectional pedestrian
simulation needed to be applied on both footbridges. Due to length of the first bridge and slow
speed of pedestrians coupled with crowding the pedestrian density increases and converges
towards the end of simulation.
The true footbridge capacity within acceptable level of service and the time required to
discharge the target number of spectators was tested under these dynamic conditions.

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Fig 9. Example of pedestrian density on footbridge.

3.7.5 Simulation:
Urbsol used VISWALK pedestrian simulation software to access the pedestrian
performance and the throughput of the two structures; The simulation based approach allowed
for the true system dynamic to be accounted for and considered the following parameters:
1. Densities
2. Speeds
3. Travel times
As part of simulation a sensitivity analysis was carried out where the effects of increasing
the footbridge width in one scenario and installing seating benches (obstacles) along the
walkway in another were tested.
Due to dynamic nature of pedestrian crowding phenomenon the simulation outputs were
aggregated in five minute intervals for plotting and subsequent analysis.

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Roll No: 141717

Fig 10. Fruin LOS Footbridge 1 Example output

VISWALK was chosen as the most suitable tool for this work for a number of reasons:
1. Well developed pedestrian algorithms derived from the social force model.
2. Fruin level of service reporting based on density.
3. Robust data collection and extraction.
The project proposed that the proposed designs of both the Footbridges would operate
within acceptable limits during peak times.

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Roll No: 141717
3.8 Lab Simulation

Fig 11. Creating Areas, Obstacles and Ramps/Stairs

Fig 12. Assigning Pedestrian Inputs

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Fig 13. Assigning Pedestrian Routes

Fig 14. Pedestrian Simulation

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3.9 Result
Simulation has been done using VISWALK for an assumed location.
3.10 Conclusion
VISWALK is a very useful tool that makes the complex phenomenon of pedestrian
modeling easier by simulation and required output from simulation. It helps to understand the
actual phenomenon that may happen in the field.
3.11 References
1. Cecilia Friis, Lina Svensson, Pedestrian Microsimulation - A comparative study between the
software programs Vissim and Viswalk, Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering, Division of GeoEngineering, Road and Traffic Research Group, Chalmers
University of Technology.
2. Case study project on Pedestrian Footbridge Analysis, Urbsol, Perth, Australia.
3. Dr. Tom V. Mathew, Chapter 47, Pedestrian Studies, Transportation Systems Engineering,
IIT Bombay.
4. http://vision-traffic.ptvgroup.com/en-uk/products/ptv-viswalk/
5. http://www.traffic-inside.com/tag/pedestrian-simulation/

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