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Right of way

Asymmetric agent interactions in crowds

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Abstract

Pedestrian models typically represent interactions between agents in a symmetric fashion. In general, these symmetric relationships are valid for a large number of crowd simulation scenarios. However, there are many cases in which symmetric responses between agents are inappropriate, leading to unrealistic behavior or undesirable simulation artifacts. We present a novel formulation, called right of way, which provides a well-disciplined mechanism for modeling asymmetric relationships between pedestrians. Right of way is a general principle, which can be applied to different types of pedestrian models. We illustrate this by applying right of way to three different pedestrian models (two based on social forces and one based on velocity obstacles) and show its impact in multiple scenarios. Particularly, we show how it enables simulation of the complex relationships exhibited by pilgrims performing the Islamic religious ritual, the Tawaf.

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Notes

  1. “Best” in this case is defined by the optimization function. Typically, it is simply the velocity that has the minimum Euclidean distance to the preferred velocity.

  2. If the agent were perfectly capable of maintaining its position, it would travel no distance at all.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Francesco Zanlungo for discussions in extending his collision-prediction social-force pedestrian model and Atila Oǧuz Boyali for permitting the use of his photograph in Fig. 10.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA

    Sean Curtis & Dinesh Manocha

  2. Hajj Research Institute, Umm Al-Qura University, Mecca, Saudi Arabia

    Basim Zafar

  3. Center of Research Excellence in Hajj and Omrah (HajjCoRE), Umm al-Qura University, Mecca, Saudi Arabia

    Adnan Gutub

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  1. Sean Curtis
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  2. Basim Zafar
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  4. Dinesh Manocha
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Correspondence to Sean Curtis.

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Curtis, S., Zafar, B., Gutub, A. et al. Right of way. Vis Comput 29, 1277–1292 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00371-012-0769-x

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