Basics of Software-Tools for Pedestrian Movement—Identification and Results

Abstract

Most commercial software tools for pedestrian movement calculations are closed-source (proprietary). Unlike open-source software tools, where the user can directly review the software coding to learn how the model works, users of closed-source software tools must rely on the technical manual and associated descriptions that are provided. In some cases, the descriptions in the technical manual may be ambiguous or incomplete for proprietary reasons. However, having a clear understanding of how the model works is imperative in helping the user to establish appropriate input parameters and boundary conditions, as well as in properly interpreting model output. To assist users of closed-source pedestrian movement models to identify, test and interpret calculated results, a set of test scenarios and assessment conditions are presented.