Crowd simulation-based knowledge mining supporting building evacuation design

Assessing building evacuation performance designs in emergency situations requires complex scenarios which need to be prepared and analysed using crowd simulation tools, requiring significant manual input. With current procedures, every design iteration requires several simulation scenarios, leading to a complicated and time-consuming process. This study aims to investigate the level of integration between digital building models and crowd simulation, within the scope of design automation. A methodology is presented in which existing ontology tools facilitate knowledge representation and mining throughout the process. Several information models are used to integrate, automate and provide feedback to the design decision-making processes. The proposed concept thus reduces the effort required to create valid simulation scenarios by applying represented knowledge, and provides feedback based on results and design objectives. To apply and test the methodology a system was developed, which is introduced here. The context of building performance during evacuation scenarios is considered, but additional design perspectives can be included. The system development section expands on the essential theoretical concepts required and the case study section shows a practical implementation of the system

Uncertainty and transparency:augmenting modelling and prediction for crisis response

Emergencies are characterised by uncertainty. This motivates the design of information systems that model and predict complex natural, material or human processes to support understanding and reduce uncertainty through prediction. The correspondence between system models and reality, however, is also governed by uncertainties, and designers have developed methods to render ‘the world’ transparent in ways that can inform, fine-tune and validate models. Additionally, people experience uncertainties in their use of simulation and prediction systems. This is a major obstacle to effective utilisation. We discuss ethically and socially motivated demands for transparency

Training of Crisis Mappers and Map Production from Multi-sensor Data: Vernazza Case Study (Cinque Terre National Park, Italy)

This aim of paper is to presents the development of a multidisciplinary project carried out by the cooperation between Politecnico di Torino and ITHACA (Information Technology for Humanitarian Assistance, Cooperation and Action). The goal of the project was the training in geospatial data acquiring and processing for students attending Architecture and Engineering Courses, in order to start up a team of "volunteer mappers". Indeed, the project is aimed to document the environmental and built heritage subject to disaster; the purpose is to improve the capabilities of the actors involved in the activities connected in geospatial data collection, integration and sharing. The proposed area for testing the training activities is the Cinque Terre National Park, registered in the World Heritage List since 1997. The area was affected by flood on the 25th of October 2011. According to other international experiences, the group is expected to be active after emergencies in order to upgrade maps, using data acquired by typical geomatic methods and techniques such as terrestrial and aerial Lidar, close-range and aerial photogrammetry, topographic and GNSS instruments etc.; or by non conventional systems and instruments such us UAV, mobile mapping etc. The ultimate goal is to implement a WebGIS platform to share all the data collected with local authorities and the Civil Protectio

Intelligent evacuation management systems: A review

Crowd and evacuation management have been active areas of research and study in the recent past. Various developments continue to take place in the process of efficient evacuation of crowds in mass gatherings. This article is intended to provide a review of intelligent evacuation management systems covering the aspects of crowd monitoring, crowd disaster prediction, evacuation modelling, and evacuation path guidelines. Soft computing approaches play a vital role in the design and deployment of intelligent evacuation applications pertaining to crowd control management. While the review deals with video and nonvideo based aspects of crowd monitoring and crowd disaster prediction, evacuation techniques are reviewed via the theme of soft computing, along with a brief review on the evacuation navigation path. We believe that this review will assist researchers in developing reliable automated evacuation systems that will help in ensuring the safety of the evacuees especially during emergency evacuation scenarios

A dynamic approach for evacuees’ distribution and optimal routing in hazardous environments

© 2018 Elsevier B.V. In a complex built environment, the situation changes rapidly during an emergency event. Typically, available systems rely heavily on a static scenario in the calculation of safest routes for evacuation. In addition, egress route calculation and evacuation simulations are performed separately from path-finding for rescue teams. In this paper, we propose a state-of-the-art dynamic approach, which deals not only with a 3D environment, shape of spaces and hazard locations, but also with the dynamic distribution of occupants during evacuation. A database of densities and information about hazard influence are generated and used to calculate optimal paths for rescue teams. Three simulation scenarios were rigorously compared in this study, namely static with constant density values determined for subsequent stages of evacuation, semi-dynamic with densities representing an actual people distribution in a building during evacuation simulation, and dynamic with temporal distribution of evacuees stored in a database, and dynamically used in optimal path calculations. The findings revealed that static simulation is significantly different from semi-dynamic and dynamic simulations, and each type of simulation is better suited for the decision task at hand. These results have significant implications on achieving a rapid and safe evacuation of people during an emergency event

A Comprehensive Study on Pedestrians' Evacuation

Human beings face threats because of unexpected happenings, which can be avoided through an adequate crisis evacuation plan, which is vital to stop wound and demise as its negative results. Consequently, different typical evacuation pedestrians have been created. Moreover, through applied research, these models for various applications, reproductions, and conditions have been examined to present an operational model. Furthermore, new models have been developed to cooperate with system evacuation in residential places in case of unexpected events. This research has taken into account an inclusive and a 'systematic survey of pedestrian evacuation' to demonstrate models methods by focusing on the applications' features, techniques, implications, and after that gather them under various types, for example, classical models, hybridized models, and generic model. The current analysis assists scholars in this field of study to write their forthcoming papers about it, which can suggest a novel structure to recent typical intelligent reproduction with novel features

Students' evacuation behavior during an emergency at schools:A systematic literature review

Disasters and emergencies frequently happen, and some of them require population evacuation. Children can be severely affected during evacuations due to their lower capability to analyze, perceive, and answer disaster risks. Although several studies attempted to address the safety of children during the evacuation, the existing literature lacks a systematic review of students' evacuation behavior during school time. Therefore, this study aims to conduct a systematic literature review to explore how students' evacuation behavior during school time has been addressed by previous scholars and identify gaps in knowledge. The review process included three steps: formulating the research question, establishing strategic search strategies, and data extraction and analysis. The studies have been identified by searching academic search engines and refined the recognized publications unbiasedly. The researchers have then thematically analyzed the objectives and findings of the selected studies resulting in the identification of seven themes in the field of students' evacuation behavior during school time. Finally, the study put forward suggestions for future research directions to efficiently address the recognized knowledge gaps.</p

Toward cognitive digital twins using a BIM-GIS asset management system for a diffused university

The integrated use of building information modeling (BIM) and geographic information system (GIS) is promising for the development of asset management systems (AMSs) for operation and maintenance (O &amp; M) in smart university campuses. The combination of BIM-GIS with cognitive digital twins (CDTs) can further facilitate the management of complex systems such as university building stock. CDTs enable buildings to behave as autonomous entities, dynamically reacting to environmental changes. Timely decisions based on the actual conditions of buildings and surroundings can be provided, both in emergency scenarios or when optimized and adaptive performances are required. The research aims to develop a BIM-GIS-based AMS for improving user experience and enabling the optimal use of resources in the O &amp; M phase of an Italian university. Campuses are complex assets, mainly diffused with buildings spread across the territory, managed with still document-based and fragmented databases handled by several subjects. This results in incomplete and asymmetrical information, often leading to ineffective and untimely decisions. The paper presents a methodology for the development of a BIM-GIS web-based platform (i.e., AMS-app) providing the real-time visualization of the asset in an interactive 3D map connected to analytical dashboards for management support. Two buildings of the University of Turin are adopted as demonstrators, illustrating the development of an easily accessible, centralized database by integrating spatial and functional data, useful also to develop future CDTs. As a first attempt to show the AMS app potential, crowd simulations have been conducted to understand the buildings' actual level of safety in case of fire emergency and demonstrate how CDTs could improve it. The identification of data needed, also gathered through the future implementation of suitable sensors and Internet of Things networks, is the core issue together with the definition of effective asset visualization and monitoring methods. Future developments will explore the integration of artificial intelligence and immersive technologies to enable space use optimization and real-time wayfinding during evacuation, exploiting digital tools to alert and drive users or authorities for safety improvement. The ability to easily optimize the paths with respect to the actual occupancy and conditions of both the asset and surroundings will be enabled

Exitus: An Agent-Based Evacuation Simulation Model For Heterogeneous Populations

Evacuation planning for private-sector organizations is an important consideration given the continuing occurrence of both natural and human-caused disasters that inordinately affect them. Unfortunately, the traditional management approach that is focused on fire drills presents several practical challenges at the scale required for many organizations but especially those responsible for national critical infrastructure assets such as airports and sports arenas. In this research we developed Exitus, a comprehensive decision support system that may be used to simulate large-scale evacuations of such structures. The system is unique because it considers individuals with disabilities explicitly in terms of physical and psychological attributes. It is also capable of classifying the environment in terms of accessibility characteristics encompassing various conditions that have been shown to have a disproportionate effect upon the behavior of individuals with disabilities during an emergency. The system was applied to three unique test beds: a multi-story office building, an international airport, and a major sports arena. Several simulation experiments revealed specific areas of concern for both building managers and management practice in general. In particular, we were able to show (a) how long evacuations of heterogeneous populations may be expected to last, (b) who the most vulnerable groups of people are, (c) the risk engendered from particular design features for individuals with disabilities, and (d) the potential benefits from adopting alternate evacuation strategies, among others. Considered together, the findings provide a useful foundation for the development of best practices and policies addressing the evacuation concerns surrounding heterogeneous populations in large, complex environments. Ultimately, a capabilities based approach featuring both tactical and strategic planning with an eye toward the unique problems presented by individuals with disabilities is recommended