2020/12/28 by Lingzhu Zhang, Zhang, Lingzhu, Alain Chiaradia +1
Engineering · Environmental Science · #Computers and Society (cs.CY) #FOS: Computer and information sciences #J4 #K4 #Spatial Cognition and Navigation #Urban Design and Spatial Analysis #Urban Green Space and Health
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2012.14419
openalex publication_date 2020/12/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Wayfinding behavior and pedestrian movement pattern research relies on objective spatial configuration representation and analysis, such as space syntax, to quantify and control for the difficulty of wayfinding in multi-level buildings and urban built environments. However, the space syntax's representation oversimplifies multi-level vertical connections. The more recent segment and angular approaches to space syntax remain un-operationalizable in three dimensional space. The two dimensional axial-map and segment map line representations are reviewed to determine their extension to a novel three dimensional space line representation. Using an extreme case study research strategy, four representations of a large scale complex multi-level outdoor and indoor built environment are tested against observed pedestrian movement patterns N = 17,307. Association with the movement pattern increases steadily as the representation increases toward high three-dimensional space level of definition and completeness. A novel hybrid angular-Euclidean analysis was used for the objective description of three dimensional built environment complexity. The results suggest that pedestrian wayfinding and movement pattern research in a multi-level built environment should include interdependent outdoor and indoor, and use full three-dimensioanal line representation.