How long does it take to evacuate the building? Are the stairs wide enough to deal with the number of passengers? Where must we situate the ticket machines? This kind of questions can be answered by modeling and analyzing pedestrian flows with simulation.

Simulation of pedestrian flows in large buildings such as airport terminals, train stations, sports arenas and exhibition halls are not new, but has gained more interest in recent years. The most important reason for this increase is the enormous attention for safety and security in these environments. Another ground why simulation of pedestrian flows rises is the comfort for the pedestrian and the awareness that the shape and layout of large buildings have a big impact on the efficiency of the flow. A third reason is that computers are getting more powerful. This computation power enables modeling of complex environment with many thousands of people on a sufficient detailed level.