Version 9.0 introduces a variety of innovative features
Weeks ahead of its formal launch, MassMotion 9.0 has been previewed at Asia Pacific Rail where Oasys Application Specialist, Prof. Peter Debney, introduced its key new modelling and agent interaction features to a crowded seminar room.
Rail planners have become familiar with the use of crowd analysis software for master planning and development of major transport hubs around the world. Now operators in Asia are pioneering its use as an operational management tool, enabling them to manage both scheduled and emergency maintenance work and timetable disruptions.
Rail operating companies have been embracing the use of crowd analysis as a day-to-day operational management tool for keeping essential rail services running during planned maintenance and unexpected service disruptions. The combination of 3D visualisation, intelligent agents (simulated pedestrians) and super-fast analysis provided by Oasys MassMotion meets their need to react quickly to changing situations and to maintain tough reliability targets.
Why MassMotion?
Key factors leading to operators’ choice of BIM-compatible MassMotion included the software’s ability to deal with big crowds and its 3D capabilities that allow users to view the entire passenger journey through a multi-level station hub. For day-to-day management of a network, the unique ability to import timetables (such as train/airport departure and arrival times) was particularly attractive, and will save operators countless man hours.
Users can either construct their model within MassMotion using built-in modelling tools, or import 3D models from a wide range of products including AutoCAD, MicroStation, Sketch-Up, Rhino and Revit. MassMotion’s gaming quality graphics then provide clear visualisation and communication of its analyses.
MassMotion’s intelligent virtual agents ‘think on their feet’, and react to current conditions and whatever changing circumstances or emergency situation is simulated in the model. So, operators can test different scenarios, safe in the knowledge that the behaviour of their virtual crowd will be as near to real life as possible. Other applications require that every route option is identified and coded, which makes them cumbersome for large transport networks with many route choices, or when operators need to respond to unexpected circumstances.
MassMotion is used for transport hub projects around the world, including Union Station in Toronto and the Fulton Center in New York.