Towards a Framework for Pedestrian Simulation for Intermodal Interfaces

The dynamics of pedestrians have received less attention in transportation systems when compared to cars and other transportation means. However, its importance is inarguable and, recently, a lot of effort on research was put into this field. The use of Agent-Based Models (ABM) and known techniques such as the Social Forces Model (SFM) has fostered this most recent application field. Several models are already available for crowd simulation, but the validation of such models is a critical issue. Methodologies for behaviour elicitation and validation in social simulation models are needed. In this paper, a new framework to tackle these problems is proposed. Based on research made for more specific applications, concerned with buildings\´ evacuation, a methodological approach to develop a simulator for pedestrian\´s dynamics consisting of five main tasks is proposed hereafter. The tasks are: 1) "Reference Models and Benchmarks" 2) "Pedestrian Sensor Fusion, 3) "Serious Games for Pedestrian Behaviour Elicitation" 4) "Behaviour Mining, " and 5) "Agent-Based Modelling and Simulation of Pedestrian Elicitation of Emergent Dynamics, " a Decision Support Tool aimed at the study and analysis at pedestrian dynamics in the urban context, specifically for helping planners to develop the new generation of buildings and cities.