Can pedestrian simulation tools really model humans accurately?
Share
Pedestrian simulation software plays a big part in making our lives easier. As our cities and transport networks became ever more complex, and our festivals, concerts and sporting events got bigger, keeping us moving freely and safely became one of the biggest challenges facing planners. Now, of course, managing proximity and how we move adds another level of complexity.
Understanding and predicting the pedestrian movement and the resulting crowd flows is a critical part of the design, planning and day-to-day operations of any infrastructure or event, and pedestrian simulation software like Oasys MassMotion provides the tools planners need. The recent addition of proximity modelling tools is helping to manage and phase the safe reopening of facilities after lockdowns.
So how does pedestrian simulation work and how realistic can its predictions be? We asked Yogin Doolab, a consultant on the Oasys MassMotion team to give us an idea of how pedestrian modelling works.
Yogin explained that the roots of understanding pedestrian dynamics go back decades, to work by architects understanding crowds moving as fluids, to studies of evacuation and safety. A quantum leap in our understanding was the idea of Level of Service (LOS), first conceived by John Fruin in the 1960s. Fruin had realised that the best measure of the effectiveness of a potential route was not how fast individuals travelled but how many passed a given point per minute: the relationship between density and speed isn't a simple linear one and Fruin's studies showed us how this happens (there is actually a sweet point at which greater density doesn't actually slow the crowd down, but add just a few more people and there will soon be congestion!). Using the Level of Service (LOS) concept, which can be thought of as a measure of how big a group can get before movement is restricted, we can start to predict how individual pedestrians will move in a crowd.
Being able to translate this learning into a scientific understanding of movement was the next key step to modelling crowds accurately. In the 1990s, a combination of additional research and advances in computing power made this feasible. Dirk Helbing and Peter Molnar introduced the social forces model in 1995. They developed a system that represented the multiple interactions between individuals, objects, etc. They called these interactions social forces and showed how they guided the behaviour of an individual when moving in and amongst other people.
Since then, there have been many research studies conducted to determine with greater precision how people behave and choose the path they will take to get to their destination, be it getting through a ticket barrier or reaching the burger bar at a concert.
A valid and accurate pedestrian modelling technique should be able to model most, if not all aspects of pedestrian movement. For example, the software should be able to simulate how pedestrians enter/exit a given space, what happens when they meet people coming the other way around a corner, and how they react to the dynamically changing crowd density around them. It should reveal where crossflows and counter-flows might give rise to problems, and it should also be able to model random sporadic human behaviour as well.
Not surprisingly, humans being what they are, attempts to refine an existing model or introduce a new one always seems to leave a gap. So, the honest answer to Can pedestrian simulation software model human behaviour 100% accurately? is that it cannot - but it is getting pretty close and engineers and planners around the world do have confidence in the insights it offers. For example, at Beijing's new jewel-in-the-crown Daxing airport, for example, MassMotion showed how simply adding an extra escalator to the design would reduce bottlenecks at the main entrance.
Agent-based simulation tools such as Oasys MassMotion use the social forces model in combination with LOS and then also add additional data provided by the user to replicate human behaviour to the best of its ability. Additional data might be transport timetables or concert and interval times to predict peaks and troughs in footfall traffic or actual observations taken in the field to give a better understanding of how people are likely to approach a building.
With added features like action sets (sequences such as passing ticket desks, automated barriers or security) , agent profiles (age, mobility, cultural preference to walk on one side of the road, etc) and MassMotion's software development kit (SDK) to enable users to add new project-specific features, a user is able to customize their simulation. In addition, the MassMotion development team currently has an active research program on how to incorporate real-time data into the software to increase accuracy and enable managers to react to emerging situations like congestion caused by a faulty escalator.
With technology advances and the rapid development of artificial intelligence and machine learning, it shouldn't be long until pedestrian modelling tools will indeed be able to predict and analyse any kind of human behaviour, and give us fast answers on how to avoid discomfort, danger and congestion.
Most recent headlines
03/01/2026
A still from OBEX by Albert Birney, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance...
02/01/2026
Freezing Florida: NHL's EVP, Entertainment Bob Chesterman on Taking the Wint...
02/01/2026
NHL Winter Classic 2026: TNT Sports Prepares for First NHL Outdoor Game in Sunsh...
02/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
02/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
02/01/2026
Any Given Day: Cork University Hospital premieres Wednesday 7 January on RT One and RT Player at 9:35pm
RT will debut a powerful new six-part documentary se...
02/01/2026
Friday 2 January 2026
All episodes of Heated Rivalry will be landing on Sky and...
02/01/2026
Sequins, chat shows, live sporting action, ground-breaking docuseries and brand-new Irish drama to kick off 2026
New Year, New Content Coming Soon across RT
...
01/01/2026
Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation Announces 2026 Noel Schajris Scholarship The scholarship will cover tuition and housing for one Berklee College of Music stud...
01/01/2026
New year, new games, all with RTX 5080-powered cloud energy. GeForce NOW is kicking off 2026 by looking back at an unforgettable year of wins and wildly high fr...
31/12/2025
Back to All News
NFL Christmas Gameday on Netflix Scores Again With the Lions-V...
30/12/2025
As the College Football Playoff Enters the Quarterfinals, ESPN Blows Out Its Meg...
30/12/2025
SVG's Best of 2025: Original ArticlesTake a look back at all our coverage of big-time productions, game-changing technologies, and state-of-the-art new faci...
30/12/2025
MELBOURNE, Fla., Dec. 30, 2025 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) will release its fourth quarter 2025 financial results before the market opens on Thursday, J...
30/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
30/12/2025
Your live countdown to 2026 with Inhaler, David Gray, Lyra, Garron Noone, Sharon...
30/12/2025
It marked the first civilian operational authorization for a HAPS flight in Europe, led by Space42's subsidiary, Mira Aerospace
The flight demonstrated HAP...
29/12/2025
San Francisco 49ers Strike Gold With Halftime Laser SpectacularStunning display caps $200 million renovation of Levi's Stadium techBy Dan Daley, Audio Edito...
29/12/2025
The Cup's Around the Corner: An Inside Look at Broadcast Preparations for th...
29/12/2025
SVG's Best of 2025: Longform VideoWatch the standout keynote conversations, deep dives, and panel discussions from the year for free on SVG PLAY!By Brandon ...
29/12/2025
From crisper Lossless audio and immersive music videos in beta to new Audiobooks+ plans, custom transitions between tracks, and in-app Messages, we keep levelin...
29/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
27/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
26/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
26/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
25/12/2025
Holiday lights are twinkling, hot cocoa's on the stove and gamers are settling in for a well-earned break.
Whether staying in or heading on a winter getawa...
24/12/2025
What is AI good for? Posted by MTI Film on December 24, 2025
What is AI good for?
What is AI good for?
It's been three years since ChatGPT first cap...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
RT has unveiled an exclusive first look at the new Dancing with the Stars promo...
24/12/2025
Back to All News
The Boyfriend' Season 2 Unveils Heartwarming Trailer, Key...
24/12/2025
Back to All News
Love, Fights, and Everything in Between: Badly in Love' Returns for Season 2
Entertainment
24 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied t...
24/12/2025
Scripps Research study links sleep variability with sleep apnea and hypertension How consumers' digital activity trackers could enable personalized health s...
23/12/2025
How guilas Cibae as Dominican Winter League Games Are Locally Produced for Glob...
23/12/2025
BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on Supplying Scalability and Customization in the Clo...
23/12/2025
CAMB.AI Enables European Athletics to Offer Multi-Language SupportPlan is to eventually offer translation into all languages spoken in EuropeBy Ken Kerschbaumer...
23/12/2025
Analysis: As sports media values trend negative, scarcity and quality are king By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Monday, December 22, 2025 - 14:08
Print ...
23/12/2025
ESPN, Disney, and NBA Return to the Animated Altcast Fray With Second Edition of...
23/12/2025
End the Year on a High Note and Donate to the Sports Broadcasting Fund Today!By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 - 12:25 pm
P...
23/12/2025
The year is winding down, the weather outside is frightful, and it's the perfect time to escape into a story that warms the heart. For listeners looking for...
23/12/2025
A Zeus motor is hot fire tested at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, solid rocket ...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Lightware will exhibit several major product innovations at ISE 2026, including the new USB-C BOOSTER-V1, Google Meet. integration for various Taurus UCX models...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
Can pedestrian simulation tools really model humans accurately? 
