An agent based evacuation model utilising hybrid space discretisation

Egress models typically use one of three methods to represent the physical space in which the agents move: coarse network, fine network or continuous. In this work, we present a novel approach to represent space, which we call the 'Hybrid Spatial Discretisation' (HSD), in which all three spatial representations can be utilised to represent the physical space of the geometry within a single integrated software tool. The aim of the HSD approach is to encompass the benefits of the three spatial representation methods and maximise computational efficiency while providing an optimal environment to represent the movement and interaction of agents. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.