Modeling Framework and Implementation of Activity- and Agent-Based Simulation: An Application to the Greater Boston Area

Authored by Lima Isabel Viegas de, Mazen Danaf, Arun Akkinepally, Azevedo Carlos Lima De, Moshe Ben-Akiva

Date Published: 2018

DOI: 10.1177/0361198118798970

Sponsors: United States Department of Energy (DOE)

Platforms: C++

Model Documentation: Other Narrative Flow charts

Model Code URLs: Model code not found

Abstract

This paper presents a utility-maximizing approach to agent-based modeling with an application to the Greater Boston Area (GBA). It leverages day activity schedules (DAS) to create a framework for representing travel demand in an individual's day. DAS are composed of a sequence of stops that make up home-based tours with activity purposes, intermediate stops, and subtours. The framework introduced in this paper includes three levels: (1) the Day Pattern Level, which determines if an individual will travel and, if so, what types of primary activities and intermediate stops they will do; (2) the Tour Level, which models the mode, destination, and time-of-day of the different primary activities; and (3) the Intermediate Stop Level, which generates intermediate stops. The models are estimated for the GBA using the 2010 Massachusetts Travel Survey (MTS). They are then implemented in SimMobility, the agent-based, activity-based, multimodal simulator. It run in a microsimulation using a Synthetic Population. Produced results are consistent with the MTS. Compared with similar activity-based approaches, the proposed framework allows for more flexibility in modeling a wide range of activity and travel patterns.

Tags

System Complex travel behavior