It's all rush hour in Beijing as research reveals Chinese commuters are in a hurry
London (BUSINESS WIRE) - Beijing's commuters are setting the pace in China, says new research from pedestrian simulation software company Legion.
The Legion study reveals that pedestrians in the Chinese capital walk 10% faster than those in Hong Kong: 5.3 kph compared to 4.8 kph. In other words, in just 10 minutes, commuters in Beijing will walk over 90 metres further than their Hong Kong compatriots. That's almost the length of a football pitch.
The discovery of this substantial kph difference, one of a number of findings obtained from hundreds of hours of video recorded in Beijing metro stations, will prove invaluable for architects and designers building in bustling Chinese cities.
Accurate knowledge of walking speeds along with other behavioural data such as pedestrians' personal space preferences, enhances a designer's ability to predict how a building or urban space will perform. It informs critical design decisions about, for example, how wide corridors and pavements need to be or how many escalators or ticket gates are needed to minimise congestion and keep pedestrians flowing in well used spaces.
"Understanding how different types of pedestrians behave is critical to getting the design and operation of buildings and public spaces right," says Kevin Mannion, CEO of Legion. "And the speed at which people walk can have a major impact. Take a metro station, for example: understanding how long it will take people to arrive at the platform is essential for managing congestion and keeping people safe."
A team of experts from Legion studied users of Beijing's transport network as part of a project to create accurate models of Chinese commuters and Weekend railway users for their advanced pedestrian simulation software. Hundreds of hours of hi-resolution video footage were recorded at a number of Beijing metro stations. This provided a data set of thousands of pedestrians moving in different contexts within the stations. After extensive analysis using Legion's proprietary video processing software, the team derived profiles for the speeds of Chinese pedestrians under various conditions. These profiles will be added to Legion's software to complement existing pedestrian profiles.
Kevin Mannion added: "There is no such thing as a standard or global pedestrian. One size does not fit all. When you need to know how a pedestrian space will work in a particular part of the world, you need to have the measurement data from that part of the world. Otherwise, how can you have confidence in your simulations? We have previously studied pedestrians in Hong Kong, various cities in Europe, North America and South America, and designers using our software are able to build their simulations around different types of scientifically validated pedestrian. As our software is increasingly being deployed on projects in China, adding Chinese pedestrian profiles was a natural step in our development."
Legion's pedestrian simulation technology supports a more efficient design process. It enables designers to test proposed designs for, say, metro stations, airport terminals or arenas and to make any necessary changes before construction begins.
The new `Chinese commuter' and `Chinese weekend railway user' entity profiles will be included in Enhancement Pack 4 for Legion Studio which is released on 2nd April 2008.
About Legion
Legion is the company behind the world's most advanced and widely adopted pedestrian simulation software: Legion Studio and its accompanying animation software, Legion 3D. With its accurate, validated simulations, Legion is transforming how the world's built environment is designed, upgraded and operated.
Legion Studio enables designers and engineers to analyse and quantitatively assess the efficiency of different designs and strategies. As a result, Legion simulations inform critical decisions about improving the safety, operational effectiveness and profitability of places where people gather ? places like metro and surface rail stations, airports and sports venues.
Legion has offices in London, New York and Shanghai and a network of associates and partners serving a worldwide customer base. Users include some of the world's major transport authorities: Transport for London, MTR Hong Kong, Madrid's Consorcio Regional de Transportes, Spain's IENA, the Metropolitan Transport Authority in New York City, Rail Corp in Sydney, and Santiago Metro. Leading design and engineering firms, such as AECOM, Arup, Halcrow, Parsons Brinkerhoff and WS Atkins have used Legion Studio to offer new pedestrian engineering services. Legion Studio has also been used in planning the Sydney, Athens, Beijing and London Olympics.
Tannissan Mae Communications for Legion
Kieran Miles or Nancy Prendergast, +44 (0)20 7243 4440
London (BUSINESS WIRE) - Beijing's commuters are setting the pace in China, says new research from pedestrian simulation software company Legion.
The Legion study reveals that pedestrians in the Chinese capital walk 10% faster than those in Hong Kong: 5.3 kph compared to 4.8 kph. In other words, in just 10 minutes, commuters in Beijing will walk over 90 metres further than their Hong Kong compatriots. That's almost the length of a football pitch.
The discovery of this substantial kph difference, one of a number of findings obtained from hundreds of hours of video recorded in Beijing metro stations, will prove invaluable for architects and designers building in bustling Chinese cities.
Accurate knowledge of walking speeds along with other behavioural data such as pedestrians' personal space preferences, enhances a designer's ability to predict how a building or urban space will perform. It informs critical design decisions about, for example, how wide corridors and pavements need to be or how many escalators or ticket gates are needed to minimise congestion and keep pedestrians flowing in well used spaces.
"Understanding how different types of pedestrians behave is critical to getting the design and operation of buildings and public spaces right," says Kevin Mannion, CEO of Legion. "And the speed at which people walk can have a major impact. Take a metro station, for example: understanding how long it will take people to arrive at the platform is essential for managing congestion and keeping people safe."
A team of experts from Legion studied users of Beijing's transport network as part of a project to create accurate models of Chinese commuters and Weekend railway users for their advanced pedestrian simulation software. Hundreds of hours of hi-resolution video footage were recorded at a number of Beijing metro stations. This provided a data set of thousands of pedestrians moving in different contexts within the stations. After extensive analysis using Legion's proprietary video processing software, the team derived profiles for the speeds of Chinese pedestrians under various conditions. These profiles will be added to Legion's software to complement existing pedestrian profiles.
Kevin Mannion added: "There is no such thing as a standard or global pedestrian. One size does not fit all. When you need to know how a pedestrian space will work in a particular part of the world, you need to have the measurement data from that part of the world. Otherwise, how can you have confidence in your simulations? We have previously studied pedestrians in Hong Kong, various cities in Europe, North America and South America, and designers using our software are able to build their simulations around different types of scientifically validated pedestrian. As our software is increasingly being deployed on projects in China, adding Chinese pedestrian profiles was a natural step in our development."
Legion's pedestrian simulation technology supports a more efficient design process. It enables designers to test proposed designs for, say, metro stations, airport terminals or arenas and to make any necessary changes before construction begins.
The new `Chinese commuter' and `Chinese weekend railway user' entity profiles will be included in Enhancement Pack 4 for Legion Studio which is released on 2nd April 2008.
About Legion
Legion is the company behind the world's most advanced and widely adopted pedestrian simulation software: Legion Studio and its accompanying animation software, Legion 3D. With its accurate, validated simulations, Legion is transforming how the world's built environment is designed, upgraded and operated.
Legion Studio enables designers and engineers to analyse and quantitatively assess the efficiency of different designs and strategies. As a result, Legion simulations inform critical decisions about improving the safety, operational effectiveness and profitability of places where people gather ? places like metro and surface rail stations, airports and sports venues.
Legion has offices in London, New York and Shanghai and a network of associates and partners serving a worldwide customer base. Users include some of the world's major transport authorities: Transport for London, MTR Hong Kong, Madrid's Consorcio Regional de Transportes, Spain's IENA, the Metropolitan Transport Authority in New York City, Rail Corp in Sydney, and Santiago Metro. Leading design and engineering firms, such as AECOM, Arup, Halcrow, Parsons Brinkerhoff and WS Atkins have used Legion Studio to offer new pedestrian engineering services. Legion Studio has also been used in planning the Sydney, Athens, Beijing and London Olympics.
Tannissan Mae Communications for Legion
Kieran Miles or Nancy Prendergast, +44 (0)20 7243 4440
No comments:
Post a Comment