An agent-based model of pedestrian dynamics considering groups: A real world case study

Groups have a significant influence of pedestrian dynamics: members of groups, in fact, carry out of a form of interaction (by means of verbal or non-verbal communication) that allows them to preserve cohesion even in particular conditions, such as counter flows, presence of obstacles or narrow passages. The paper describes an agent-based model for the simulation of crowds of pedestrians whose main innovative element is the representation and management of groups in the simulated population. The paper briefly describes the model and then it presents its application to a real world scenario in which an analysis of the impact of groups on the overall observed system dynamics was performed.