Modelling and Simulation of Student Pedestrian Traffic at University Campus

Brückner, Martin; Tauböck, Shabnam; Popper, Nikolas; Emrich, Štefan; Rozsenich, Benjamin; Alkilani, Salah

doi:10.11128/sne.22.tn.10131

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Modeling and analyzing the queuing times for the election, the natural choice of modeling approach is a discrete event based queuing system, where the voters are the entities that run through a system of servers and queues that represent the different stations during the voting process. While a more detailed model using agents and their individual (locally optimal) paths would have been possible (see for example [ 11 , 12 ] or also [ 13 , 14 ]), an agent-based approach was deemed too detailed because of the sequential nature of the voting system, as there is no prioritization within the waiting voters and always the first in the queue is the next to vote (i.e. there is no overtaking, and therefore the individual paths of the voters are not that important).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

How an election can be safely planned and conducted during a pandemic: Decision support based on a discrete event model

Weibrecht

Rößler²,

Bicher

et al. 2021

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In 2020, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic caused major limitations for any aspect of social life and in specific for all events that require a gathering of people. While most events of this kind can be postponed or cancelled, democratic elections are key elements of any democratic regime and should be upheld if at all possible. Consequently, proper planning is required to establish the highest possible level of safety to both voters and scrutineers. In this paper, we present the novel and innovative way how the municipal council and district council elections in Vienna were planned and conducted using an discrete event simulation model. Key target of this process was to avoid queues in front of polling stations to reduce the risk of related infection clusters. In cooperation with a hygiene expert, we defined necessary precautions that should be met during the election in order to avoid the spread of COVID-19. In a next step, a simulation model was established and parametrized and validated using data from previous elections. Furthermore, the planned conditions were simulated to see whether excessive queues in front of any polling stations could form, as these could on the one hand act as an infection herd, and on the other hand, turn voters away. Our simulation identified some polling stations where long queues could emerge. However, splitting up these electoral branches resulted in a smooth election across all of Vienna. Looking back, the election did not lead to a significant increase of COVID-19 incidences. Therefore, it can be concluded that careful planning led to a safe election, despite the pandemic.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

How an election can be safely planned and conducted during a pandemic: Decision support based on a discrete event model

Weibrecht

Rößler²,

Bicher

et al. 2021

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Modeling and analyzing the queuing times for the election, the natural choice of modeling approach is a discrete event based queuing system, where the voters are the entities that run through a system of servers and queues that represent the different stations during the voting process. While a more detailed model using agents and their individual (locally optimal) paths would have been possible (see for example [11,12] or also [13,14]), an agent-based approach was deemed too detailed because of the sequential nature of the voting system, as there is no prioritization within the waiting voters and always the first in the queue is the next to vote (i.e. there is no overtaking, and therefore the individual paths of the voters are not that important).…”

Section: Boundary Conditions and Comparisonmentioning

confidence: 99%

How an election can be safely planned and conducted during a pandemic: Decision support based on a discrete event model

Weibrecht

Roessler²,

Bicher

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In 2020, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic caused major limitations for any aspect of social life and in specific for all events that require a gathering of people. While most events of this kind can be postponed or cancelled, democratic elections are key elements of any democratic regime and should be upheld if at all possible. Consequently, proper planning is required to establish the highest possible level of safety to both voters and scrutineers. In this paper, we present the novel and innovative way how the municipal council and district council elections in Vienna were planned and conducted using an agent-based simulation model. Key target of this process was to avoid queues in front of polling stations to reduce the risk of related infection clusters. In cooperation with a hygiene expert, we defined necessary precautions that should be met during the election in order to avoid the spread of COVID-19. In a next step, a simulation model was established and parametrized and validated using data from previous elections. Furthermore, the planned conditions were simulated to see whether excessive queues in front of any polling stations could form, as these could on the one hand act as an infection herd, and on the other hand, turn voters away. Our simulation identified some polling stations where long queues could emerge, however, splitting up these electoral branches resulted in a smooth election across all of Vienna. Looking back, the election did not lead to a significant increase of COVID-19 incidences. Therefore, it can be concluded that careful planning led to a safe election, despite the pandemic.

show abstract

Modelling and Simulation of Student Pedestrian Traffic at University Campus

Cited by 2 publications

References 1 publication

How an election can be safely planned and conducted during a pandemic: Decision support based on a discrete event model

How an election can be safely planned and conducted during a pandemic: Decision support based on a discrete event model

How an election can be safely planned and conducted during a pandemic: Decision support based on a discrete event model

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About