Document Open Access Logo

From Sequential Decisions to Concurrent Processes: Advancing Human Navigation Models for Simulation (Short Paper)

Authors Sabine Timpf , Franziska Klügl

PDF

File

Thumbnail PDF
PDF
LIPIcs.COSIT.2026.36.pdf
  • Filesize: 0.71 MB
  • 8 pages

Document Identifiers

Subject Classification

ACM Subject Classification
  • Computing methodologies → Model development and analysis
  • Computing methodologies → Intelligent agents
  • Computing methodologies → Multi-agent systems
Keywords
  • agent-based simulation
  • modelling human navigation
  • computational process modelling

Metrics

Abstract

Computational models of human navigation have largely followed sequential decision paradigms, treating planning, perception, and movement as discrete models. In contrast, evidence from spatial cognition and neuroscience indicates that navigation arises from multiple interacting processes operating concurrently. Building on a previously proposed architecture, this paper advances a modelling framework that explicitly represents such concurrency and process interaction, and examines its implications for agent-based simulations of spatial decision-making in human navigation.

Cite As Get BibTex

Sabine Timpf and Franziska Klügl. From Sequential Decisions to Concurrent Processes: Advancing Human Navigation Models for Simulation (Short Paper). In 17th International Conference on Spatial Information Theory (COSIT 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 393, pp. 36:1-36:8, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026) https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.COSIT.2026.36

Author Details

Sabine Timpf
  • Geoinformatics Group, Institute of Geography, University of Augsburg, Germany
Franziska Klügl
  • School of Science and Technology, University of Örebro, Sweden

Funding

  • Timpf, Sabine: I gratefully acknowledge support by University of Örebro for my research stay in March 2026.

Supplementary Materials

References

  1. Negar Alinaghi, Ioannis Giannopoulos, Markus Kattenbeck, and Martin Raubal. Decoding wayfinding: analyzing wayfinding processes in the outdoor environment. Int. Journal of Geographical Information Science, pages 1-31, March 2025. URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/13658816.2025.2473599.
  2. Eric Chown, Stephen Kaplan, and David Kortenkamp. Prototypes, location and associative networks (plan): Towards a unified theory of cognitive mapping. Cognitive Science, 19(1):1-52, 1995. URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/0364-0213(95)90017-9.
  3. Andrew T. Crooks, Christopher J. E. Castle, and Michael Batty. Key challenges in agent-based modelling for geo-spatial simulation. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 32(6):417-430, 2008. URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2008.09.004.
  4. R.M. Downs and D. Stea. Maps in Minds. Harper & Row, New York, US, 1977. Google Scholar
  5. Anna Charisse Farr, Tristan Kleinschmidt, Prasad Yarlagadda, and Kerrie Mengersen. Wayfinding: A simple concept, a complex process. Transport Reviews, 32(6):715-743, November 2012. URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/01441647.2012.712555.
  6. Gabriele Filomena and Judith A. Verstegen. Modelling the effect of landmarks on pedestrian dynamics in urban environments. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 86:101573, 2021. URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2020.101573.
  7. M. Gath-Morad, E. Ronchi, and R. Lovreglio. A multi-agent approach for modelling pedestrian dynamics: A case study. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Pedestrian and Evacuation Dynamics, 2013. Google Scholar
  8. Reginald G. Golledge. Wayfinding Behavior: Cognitive Mapping and Other Spatial Processes. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1999. Google Scholar
  9. S. Gopal, Roberta L. Klatzky, and Thomas R. Smith. Navigator: A psychologically based model of environmental learning through navigation. In Proceedings of the Spatial Information Theory Conference, 1989. Google Scholar
  10. D. Harel. Statecharts: a visual formalism for complex systems. Science of Computer Programming, 8(3):231-274, 1987. URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/0167-6423(87)90035-9.
  11. Barbara Hayes-Roth. A blackboard architecture for control. Artificial Intelligence, 26(3):251-321, July 1985. URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/0004-3702(85)90063-3.
  12. Dirk Helbing and Peter Molnár. Social force model for pedestrian dynamics. Physical Review E, 51(5):4282-4286, 1995. URL: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.51.4282.
  13. Peter M. Kielar and André Borrmann. Spice: a cognitive agent framework for computational crowd simulations in complex environments. Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems, 32(3):387-416, 2018. URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10458-018-9383-2.
  14. Angelika Kneidl, André Borrmann, and Dirk Hartmann. Generation and use of sparse navigation graphs for microscopic pedestrian simulation models. In Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, pages 189-198, 2012. URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-29709-0_18.
  15. L. Lamport. Specifying Systems: The TLA+ Language and Tools for Hardware and Software Engineers. Addison Wesley, Boston, 2002. Google Scholar
  16. Thomas Madl, Ke Chen, Daniela Montaldi, and Robert Trappl. Computational cognitive models of spatial memory in navigation space: A review. Neural Networks, 65:18-43, 2015. URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neunet.2015.01.008.
  17. D.R. Montello. Navigation. In P. Shah and A. Miyake, editors, Handbook of visuospatial cognition, pages 257-294. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005. Google Scholar
  18. Mehdi Moussaïd, Mubbasir Kapadia, Trevor Thrash, Robert W. Sumner, Markus Gross, Dirk Helbing, and Christoph Hölscher. Crowd behaviour during high-stress evacuations in an immersive virtual environment. Journal of The Royal Society Interface, 13(122):20160414, 2016. URL: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2016.0414.
  19. Christoph Oechslein, Franziska Klügl, Rainer Herrler, and Frank Puppe. Uml for behavior-oriented multi-agent simulations. In Barbara Dunin-Keplicz and Edward Nawarecki, editors, From Theory to Practice in Multi-Agent Systems, pages 217-226, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2002. Springer. URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45941-3_23.
  20. A. Omicini, F. Zambonelli, and M. Klusch, editors. Coordination of Internet Agents: Models, Technologies, and Applications. Springer, 2014. Google Scholar
  21. A. S. Rao and M. P. Georgeff. BDI agents: From theory to practice. In Proc. of the 1st Int. Conf. on Multiagent Systems, ICMAS95, pages 312-319, 1995. Google Scholar
  22. W. Reisig. Understanding Petri Nets: Modeling Techniques, Analysis Methods, Case Studies. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2013. Google Scholar
  23. S. Russell and P. Norvig. Artificial Intelligence - A Modern Approach. Pearson, Harlow, 4 edition, 2022. Google Scholar
  24. Angela Schwering, Jakub Krukar, Rui Li, Vanessa Joy Anacta, and Stefan Fuest. Wayfinding Through Orientation. Spatial Cognition & Computation, 17(4):273-303, October 2017. URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/13875868.2017.1322597.
  25. Sebastian Thrun. Robotic mapping: A survey. In Exploring Artificial Intelligence in the New Millennium, pages 1-35. Morgan Kaufmann, 2002. Google Scholar
  26. Sabine Timpf and Werner Kuhn. Granularity Transformations in Wayfinding. In Christian Freksa, Wilfried Brauer, Christopher Habel, and Karl Friedrich Wender, editors, Spatial Cognition III, Routes and Navigation, Human Memory and Learning, Spatial Representation and Spatial Learning, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 77-88. Springer, 2003. URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45004-1_5.
  27. Sabine Timpf, Gary S. Volta, David W. Pollock, and Max J. Egenhofer. A conceptual model of wayfinding using multiple levels of abstractions. In A.U. Frank, I. Campari, and U Formentini, editors, Theories and Methods of Spatio-Temporal Reasoning in Geographic Space, volume 639 of LNCS, pages 348-367. Springer, Heidelberg Berlin, 1992. URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-55966-3_21.
  28. Paul M. Torrens. Moving agent pedestrians through space and time. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 102(1):35-66, 2012. URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/00045608.2011.595658.
  29. M. van Steen and A. Tanenbaum. Distributed Systems. distributed.systems.net, 4th edition, 2023. Google Scholar
Any Issues?
X

Feedback on the Current Page

CAPTCHA

Thanks for your feedback!

Feedback submitted to Dagstuhl Publishing

Could not send message

Please try again later or send an E-mail
© 2023-2026 Schloss Dagstuhl – LZI GmbH Schloss Dagstuhl – LZI GmbH About DROPS Imprint Privacy Contact