SimMobility: A Multi-scale Integrated Agent-Based Simulation Platform

Developments in integrated agent-based platform has shown progress, however, most of efforts are based on integrating activity-based demand models with dynamic traffic assignment model. Integration beyond this level is limited and mostly based on loosely coupled mechanism (i.e. manual exchange of data). SimMoblity is a simulation platform that integrates various mobility-sensitive behavioral models within a multi-scale simulation platform that considers land-use, transportation and communication interactions. It particularly focuses on impacts on transportation networks, intelligent transportation services and vehicular emissions, thereby enabling the simulation of a portfolio of technology, policy and investment options under alternative future scenarios. In short, SimMobility encompasses the modeling of millions of agents, from pedestrians to drivers, from phones, traffic lights to GPS probes, from cars to buses and trains, from second-by-second to year-by-year simulations. Simmobility is designed to support the activity-based modeling paradigm. All choices are ultimately tied to the agent?s goal of performing activities on a time scale that can vary from seconds to years. Agents can be grouped in broad ways, from households to firms, and can have varying roles including operators, bus drivers or real-estate agents. Thus, the range of possible decisions is also broad, from travel (e.g. Mode or route choice, driving behaviour) to land-use (e.g. household or firm location choice). This paper describes the SimMobility framework, its key features such as event-based implementation, parallel and distributed architecture and flow of data across three integrated levels. Additionally, application of the whole platform in Singapore context with some details on application of autonomous mobility on demand study is also presented.