One of Europe’s leading developers of transportation planning and operations software systems has released new versions of its traffic and pedestrian modeling and simulation products.
The German PTV Group has announced new releases of its Visum macroscopic traffic modeling, and Vissim and Viswalk microscopic traffic and pedestrian simulation software systems, which set new standards for assignment, visualization and user-friendliness, while also running faster than before. The addition of a new simulation-based assignment method, upgrades in runtime speed, enhanced handling, and several new features and functions, all aim at making modeling and simulating with the products from PTV’s Vision Traffic software suite better, faster and more convenient.
There are situations where a detailed representation of the dynamics of congestion and traffic flow is required, which is why PTV has developed SBA, the simulation-based dynamic assignment, for Visum version 16. With SBA, individual vehicles and their interactions are simulated; congestion effects and delays over time can be more realistically represented than with a merely static or non-simulation-based dynamic assignment. SBA is close to microsimulation and uses a simplified car-following model, allowing for application even for large networks. Visum 16 also comes with a new 3D network view that gives users the opportunity to create impressive and intuitive visualizations and videos with prisms, bars, customizable color schemes, and individual storyboards, for reports and presentations for colleagues, and the general public.
The new version 9 release of the company’s Vissim microsimulation software brings with it additions to Scenario Management, allowing users to very conveniently and efficiently compare results of different planning or design scenarios. In order to guarantee a clear overview, Vissim portrays the results of scenario comparison attributes not only in lists, result lists and chart windows, but also visualizes them in the network editor through color schemes and link bars. As well as upgrades to Scenario Management, Vissim 9 also provides Level of Service results for nodes, an inbuilt matrix editor for simpler handling of matrices, dynamic assignment and convergence enhancements and improvements to visualization options.
With version 9 of the Viswalk 9 pedestrian simulation software, there is now no vertical limit as to what can be modeled, as users can now simulate pedestrian flows within multi-story buildings, such as car parks in a comprehensive manner, by modeling not only stairs, but also elevators. Modelers may simulate single or several elevator groups. The feature is accompanied by the introduction of new walking behavior on stairs and ramps and accelerated simulation runs sped up by a factor of 4.
“SBA is the ideal stepping stone between strategic modelling in Visum, and hybrid simulation in Vissim,” noted Michael Oliver, solution director for PTV Visum. “Rather than push static assignment to its limits, users can leverage the science behind mesoscopic simulation within the Visum environment to design effective, efficient workflows.”
