A Grid-based Graph Data Model for Pedestrian Route Analysis in a Micro-spatial Environment

Due to limitations in geometric representation and semantic description, the current pedestrian route analysis models are inadequate. To express the geometry of geographic entities in a micro-spatial environment accurately, the concept of a grid is presented, and grid-based methods for modeling geospatial objects are described. The semantic constitution of a building environment and the methods for modeling rooms, corridors, and staircases with grid objects are described. Based on the topology relationship between grid objects, a grid-based graph for a building environment is presented, and the corresponding route algorithm for pedestrians is proposed. The main advantages of the graph model proposed in this paper are as follows: 1) consideration of both semantic and geometric information, 2) consideration of the need for accurate geometric representation of the micro-spatial environment and the efficiency of pedestrian route analysis, 3) applicability of the graph model to route analysis in both static and dynamic environments, and 4) ability of the multi-hierarchical route analysis to integrate the multiple levels of pedestrian decision characteristics, from the high to the low, to determine the optimal path.