Scenarios and Simulation Behaviour

This page defines what happens when a scenario is evaluated in ANYWAYS and describes how datasets are assigned to a network to produce traffic flows.

What a scenario evaluation does

A scenario combines:

• One network, and
• One or more datasets

When a scenario is evaluated:

• Each dataset is assigned on the network
• Assignment is performed by calculating routes through the network
• Routing behaviour during assignment is defined by the vehicle profiles associated with each dataset

The result of scenario evaluation is a set of traffic flows per road segment and per vehicle type.

→ See Concepts

→ See Datasets

→ See Vehicle profiles

Determinism and reproducibility

Scenario evaluation is deterministic.

For a given:

• Network
• Set of datasets

The same scenario will always produce the same routing and traffic flows. Changes to any of these inputs will result in a different evaluation.

What scenario evaluation does not model

Scenario evaluation does not model:

• Congestion effects or capacity constraints
• Dynamic or time-dependent route choice
• Interaction between different vehicle types
• Behavioural responses to traffic conditions

Traffic flows represent assigned demand, not observed or simulated congestion.

Interpretation of results

Results of scenario evaluation should be interpreted as:

• Relative comparisons between scenarios
• Indicators of route choice and network usage

They should not be interpreted as:

• Exact predictions of real-world traffic volumes
• Dynamic traffic simulation results

Relationship to other concepts

• Datasets define demand and routing behaviour
• Networks define the infrastructure
• Vehicle profiles define how routes are selected
• Scenarios define the context in which evaluation occurs

Scenario evaluation combines these elements to produce traffic flows.