33.5 Conclusion
We presented two examples of crisis management applications of our virtual city simulator, FreeWalk. The first application is virtual evacuation simulation, where learners can observe multi-agent crowed behavior simulations described in the Q language and also take part in the simulation as avatars. The second application is transcendent guidance systems, which visualize real-world pedestrians in the virtual city and enable location-based remote guidance. The key feature of our simulator is such inclusion of humans in crowd behavior simulations of urban spaces. In the simulations, each person can be simulated as an agent, an avatar, or a projective agent that visualizes context information retrieved from a real-world person walking around a smart environment.
The development of the two applications showed that the design principles of real-world systems could be derived from virtual simulations. We designed the transcendent guidance system based on the result of the evacuation simulation experiment. The transfer of the design principles was made possible by the correspondence between the different viewpoints (first-person and bird’s-eye views) and the two different kinds of users (transcendent and immanent users). We think this study implies a new method of software design.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Benford, S., Greenhalgh, C, Rodden, T. and Pycock, J. Collaborative Virtual Environ-ments. Communications of the ACM, 44(7), 79–85, 2001.
Bly, S. A., Harrison, S. R. and Irwin, S. Media Spaces: Bringing People Together in a Video, Audio, and Computing Environment. Communications of the ACM, 36(1), 28–47, 1993.
Borning, A. and Travers, M. Two Approaches to Casual Interaction over Computer and Video Networks. International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI91), 13–19, 1991.
Buxton, W. Telepresence: Integrating Shared Task and Person Spaces. Canadian confer-ence on Graphics Interface (GI92), 123–129, 1992.
Cassell, J., Bickmore, T., Billinghurst, M., Campbell, L., Chang, K., Vilhjalmsson H. and Yan H. Embodiment in Conversational Interfaces: Rea. International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI99), 520–527, 1999.
Cavazza, M., Charles, F. and Mead, S. J. Interacting with Virtual Characters in Interactive Storytelling. International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS2002), 318–325, 2002.
Greenhalgh C. and Benford S. Massive: A Collaborative Virtual Environment for Teleconferencing. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 2(3), 239–261, 1995.
Hagsand, O. Interactive Multiuser VEs in the DIVE System. IEEE MultiMedia, 3(1), 30–39, 1996.
Helbing, D., Farkas, I.J. and Vicsek, T. Simulating Dynamical Features of Escape Panic. Nature, 407(6803), 487–490, 2000.
Huang, E. M. and Mynatt, E. D. Semi-Public Displays for Small, Co-located Groups. International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI2003), 49–56, 2003.
Isbell, C. L., Kearns, M., Kormann, D., Singh, S. and Stone, P. Cobot in LambdaMoo: A Social Statistics Agent. National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI2000), 36–41, 2000.
Ishida, T. Digital City Kyoto: Social Information In-frastructure for Everyday Life. Communications of the ACM, 45(7), 76–81, 2002.
Ishida, T. Q: A Scenario Description Language for Interactive Agents. IEEE Computer, 35(11), 54–59, 2002.
Ishii, H., Kobayashi, M. and Arita, K. Iterative Design of Seamless Collaboration Media, Communications of the ACM, 37(8), 83–97, 1994.
Jancke, G., Venolia, G. D., Grudin, J., Cadiz, J. J. and Gupta, A. Linking Public Spaces: Technical and Social Issues. International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI2001), 530–537, 2001.
Johnson, W.L., Rickel, J.W. and Lester, J.C. Animated Pedagogical Agents: Face-to-Face Interaction in Interactive Learning Environments. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 11, 47–78, 2000.
Kendon, A. Spatial Organization in Social Encounters: the F-formation System. A. Kendon, Ed., Conducting Interaction: Patterns of Behavior in Focused Encounters, Cambridge University Press, 209–237, 1990.
Kuzuoka H. Spatial Workspace Collaboration: a SharedView Video Support System for Remote Collaboration Capability. International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI92), 533–540, 1992.
Lea, R., Honda, Y., Matsuda K. and Matsuda, S. Community Place: Architecture and Performance. Symposium on Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML97), 41–50, 1997.
Linturi, R., Koivunen, M. and Sulkanen, J. Helsinki Arena 2000-Augmenting a Real City to a Virtual One. T. Ishida, K. Isbister Ed., Digital Cities, Technologies, Experiences, and Future Perspectives. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 1765, Springer-Verlag, New York, 83–96. 2000.
Macedonia, M. R., Zyda, M. J., Pratt, D. R., Barham, P. T. and Zeswitz, S. NPSNET: A Network Software Architecture for Large-Scale Virtual Environments. Presence, 3(4), 265–287, 1994.
Murakami, Y, Ishida, T., Kawasoe, T. and Hishiyama, R. Scenario Description for Multiagent Simulation. International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS2003), 369–376, 2003.
Nakamura, T. and Ishiguro, H. Automatic 2D Map Construction using a Special Catadioptric Sensor. International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS2002), 196–201, 2002.
Nakanishi, H., Nakazawa, S., Ishida, T., Takanashi, K. and Isbister, K. Can Software Agents Influence Human Relations?-Balance Theory in Agent-mediated Communities-. International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS2003), 717–724. 2003.
Nakanishi, H. Free Walk: A Social Interaction Platform for Group Behavior in a Virtual Space. International Journal of Human Computer Studies, 60(4), 421–454, 2004.
Nakanishi, H., Koizumi, S., Ishida, T. and Ito, H. Transcendent Communication: Location-Based Guidance for Large-Scale Public Spaces. International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI2004), 655–662, 2004.
Okada, K., Maeda, F., Ichikawa, Y. and Matsushita, Y. Multiparty Videoconferencing at Virtual Social Distance: MAJIC Design. International Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW94), 385–393, 1994.
Okazaki, S. and Matsushita, S. A Study of Simulation Model for Pedestrian Movement with Evacuation and Queuing. International Conference on Engineering for Crowd Safety, 271–280, 1993.
Pentland, A. Perceptual Intelligence. Communications of the ACM, 43(3), 35–44, 2000.
Prendinger, H. and Ishizuka, M. Life-Like Characters: Tools, Affective Functions, and Applications. Springer Verlag, 2004.
Reynolds, C. W. Flocks, Herds, and Schools: A Distributed Behavioral Model. Interna-tional Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques (SIGGRAPH87), 25–34, 1987.
Rickel, J. and Johnson, W. L. Animated Agents for Procedural Training in Virtual Reality: Perception, Cognition, and Motor Control. Applied Artificial Intelligence, 13, 343–382, 1999.
Sugawara, S., Suzuki, G., Nagashima, Y, Matsuura, M., Tanigawa H. and Moriuchi, M. Interspace: Networked Virtual World for Visual Communication. IEICE Transactions on Information and Systems, E77-D(12), 1344–1349, 1994.
Sugiman T. and Misumi J. Development of a New Evacuation Method for Emergencies: Control of Collective Behavior by Emergent Small Groups. Journal of Applied Psychology, 73(1), 3–10, 1988.
Tang, J. C. and Rua, M. Montage: Providing Teleproximity for Distributed Groups. International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI94), 37–43, 1994.
Tecchia, R, Loscos, C. and Chrysanthou, Y. Image-Based Crowd Rendering. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications. 22(2), 36–43, 2002.
Tsutsuguchi, K., Shimada, S., Suenaga, Y. Sonehara, N. and Ohtsuka, S. Human Walking Animation based on Foot Reaction Force in the Three-dimensional Virtual World. Journal of Visualization and Computer Animation, 11(1), 3–16, 2000.
Waters, R. C. and Barrus, J. W. The Rise of Shared Virtual Environments. IEEE Spectrum, 34(3), 20–25, 1997.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2005 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Nakanishi, H. (2005). Virtual City Simulator for Education, Training, and Guidance. In: Monitoring, Security, and Rescue Techniques in Multiagent Systems. Advances in Soft Computing, vol 28. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-32370-8_33
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-32370-8_33
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-23245-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-32370-9
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)