Paper accepted for a Regular Issue in The Visual Computer Journal, M Kremer, B Haworth, M Kapadia, P Faloutsos Modeling Distracted Agents in Crowd Simulations.

GAIDG Lab external collaborator and York University Master’s student Melissa Kremer shows that egocentric distractions significantly impact common crowd measures. In particular, as few as 2 percent of a crowd reading or texting can cause significant disruptions to laminar flow in egress and crossing group scenarios. This paper represents the first modelling exploration of the impact of modern behaviours, such as cell phone use, on crowded environments found in urban settings.

Edit October 28, 2020: Melissa successfully defends her Master’s thesis based on this work!

Edit September 30, 2020: Paper published, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00371-020-01969-4