Over the last several years there has been a growing interest in
developing computational methodologies for modeling and analyzing
movements and behaviors of 'crowds' of people. This interest spans
several scientific areas that includes Computer Vision, Computer
Graphics, and Pedestrian Evacuation Dynamics. Despite the fact that
these different scientific fields are trying to model the same physical
entity (i.e. a crowd of people), research ideas have evolved
independently. As a result each discipline has developed techniques and
perspectives that are characteristically their own.
The goal of this book is to provide the readers a comprehensive map
towards the common goal of better analyzing and synthesizing the
pedestrian movement in dense, heterogeneous crowds. The book is
organized into different parts that consolidate various aspects of
research towards this common goal, namely the modeling, simulation, and
visual analysis of crowds.
Through this book, readers will see the common ideas and vision as well
as the different challenges and techniques, that will stimulate novel
approaches to fully grasping "crowds."