Including Route Choice Models into pedestrian movement simulation models

Route choice models in most pedestrian movement simulation models (PMSMs) currently use shortest path algorithms for representing wayfinding of the modeled pedestrians. This is in contrast to commonly used traffic models as well as to empirical evidence hinting at various strategies that people use in real life. Moreover, the impact of guiding systems typically is not represented in the models. This paper reports on some experiments providing empirical evidence that different strategies are used for wayfinding. Furthermore a model incorporating these strategies as well as routing concepts commonly used in traffic modeling is proposed and demonstrated in a case study.