Development of Evaluation Metrics for Pedestrian Flow Optimization in a Complex Service Environment Based on Behavior Observation Method

Abstract

In a service environment, the spatial layout is an important factor that has a great impact on customers' behavioral characteristics including wayfinding and purchasing. Previous studies have shown a gap between marketing, focusing solely on profitability and satisfaction, and architecture, looking only into efficiency of pedestrian flow. To balance such disparity, this study suggests an integrated approach for assessing behavioral patterns in complex service environments. With the objective that complex service environments should aim to increase its profitability and efficiency while guaranteeing customer satisfaction, quantitative metrics was developed for evaluation. The metrics was defined to use data from behavior observation including path tracking, population counting, and gaze analysis, while previous studies have relied on abstract survey methods that were prone to sampling errors and loss of data. For validation of the metrics in a real world setting, a case study was conducted at 4 train stations in Korea. In the case study, experiments were conducted to gather the required data in all 4 train stations, while their physical layouts were also analyzed. With the results from the case study, comparative evaluation of the 4 train stations in terms of behavioral efficiency was possible, together with a discussion on the effect of their physical settings.