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Contributions to Books:

A. Millonig, N Brändle, M. Ray, D. Bauer, S. van der Spek:
"Pedestrian Behaviour Monitoring: Methods and Experiences";
in: "Behaviour Monitoring and Interpretation -- BMI: Smart Environments", B. Gottfried, H. Aghajan (ed.); IOS Press, 2009, ISBN: 1607500485, 11 - 42.



English abstract:
Modern societies are characterised by a clear tendency towards individualism and
independence. Strategies for promoting independence and quality of life for people of every age are
especially important in the field of mobility. Mobility allows people to perform essential functions,
including engaging in social and recreational activities when desired and reaching business and social
services when needed. Especially people who are restricted in physical mobility due to physicalneuromuscular
handicaps or handicaps caused by limited or missing sensory perception need special
support. Pedestrians without physical constraints can also benefit from navigational and environmental
information services when walking through unfamiliar environments. In this respect applied research
has produced a number of emerging technologies and technological services such as e.g. navigation
aids implemented on mobile devices that respect individual needs, in order to support self-determined
mobility for completing basic daily tasks without personal assistance.
Advances in this field are strongly dependent on broad knowledge about people's behaviour with
regard to motion, decisive decision processes and related influencing factors. Efficient assistance and
technological services can only be developed on the basis of comprehensive investigation of spatiotemporal
behaviour and underlying determinants. Researchers of different disciplines, e.g. sociology,
tourism and travel behaviour research, artificial intelligence, or ubiquitous geotechnology and
geoinformation, are therefore applying various methods in order to examine, analyse and interpret
pedestrian behaviour.
This contribution provides an overview about common methods for monitoring and analysing human
spatio-temporal behaviour. Based on a detailed problem description and definition of related terms and
expressions the chapter comprises two main sections. The first part focuses on dataset generation.
Commonly used methods for data collection are presented and discussed with respect to specific
strengths and limitations. Empirical methods presented in this section include e.g. vision-based object
tracking, laser scanning, land-based localisation techniques (e.g. GSM, RFID, Bluetooth), satellitebased
localisation (GPS), shadowing and observation methods (unobtrusive observation, participatory
observation), and interview survey techniques (questionnaires, narrative interviews, trip diaries). The
second part focuses on data analysis. Methods for analysing specific datasets are discussed, including
e.g. stop detection, velocity histograms, use of space (density maps), cluster analysis, and descriptive
and inferential statistics.
The chapter concludes with a discussion of the applicability of the presented datasets and related
empirical methods for selected research foci on human spatio-temporal behaviour, e.g. travel
behaviour research, tourism research, crowd dynamics, or the development of agent-based simulation
models.

Keywords:
Spatio-temporal behaviour, pedestrian monitoring, dataset generation, data analysis

Created from the Publication Database of the Vienna University of Technology.