Parameters Determining Route Choice In Pedestrian Networks

The focus of this paper is the modelling of a decision process that takes place on the tactical level of a pedestrian's trip. The tactical level is defined in delimitation to the superior strategic level and subordinated operational level with respect to trip purpose and spatial relations. Whereas on the strategic level the purpose, the origin and destination, the choices for traffic mode and time of departure are being set before the trip starts, on the tactical level, decisions are being made for the actual route or diversions within the pedestrian's network during the trip. At the tactical level, the decision making process can be modeled by the minimization problem of walking costs in a network that takes into account both the network related quality and individual related factors. In the paper, the concept of a pedestrian quality attribute and its evaluation by physical assessable factors are introduced. In order to enable the application of the model, it is assumed that experiences in principle are gained by the walking pedestrian from prior knowledge of the walking network. This is the essential precondition for the decision making process that is based on a conventional route search algorithm. Instead the routing decisions by pedestrians are drawn in a mental process during walking that is characterized as non-formalistic. The purpose of the formalistic approach described in the text is to help understand the influencing factors and mechanisms of the decision making process in the analysis of pedestrian quality needs.