A Comparative Study of Urban Road Traffic Simulators

Saidallah, Mustapha; Fergougui, Abdeslam El; Alaoui, Abdelbaki El Belrhiti El · 2016 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1051/matecconf/20168105002

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Summary

This paper presents a comparative analysis of eleven major urban road traffic simulators, addressing the need for comprehensive evaluation tools in traffic management. While previous studies often compared simulators against real-world data or focused narrowly on public transport capabilities, this research expands the scope by including both commercial and open-source platforms and introducing new evaluation criteria. Specifically, the authors assess the simulators' ability to support wireless sensors for Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and their integration with Geographic Information Systems (GIS), which are critical for modern decision support and accurate network modeling. The study evaluates AIMSUN, ARCHISIM, CORSIM, MATSim, MITSIMLab, Paramics, SimTraffic, SUMO, TRANSIMS, TransModeler, and VISSIM. The methodology involves a systematic comparison based on nine specific criteria: simulation model type (microscopic, mesoscopic, or macroscopic), software category (open-source vs. commercial), system type (discrete vs. continuous), visualization capabilities (2D/3D), infrastructure coding difficulty and flexibility, vehicle and pedestrian modeling features, scope area (city, region, or country), detector support (wired vs. wireless), and GIS integration. The authors reviewed existing literature and documentation to populate a comparative table detailing each simulator's strengths and limitations across these dimensions. The findings reveal significant distinctions between the platforms. Only AIMSUN and TransModeler support multiple simulation models simultaneously, while most others are strictly microscopic. VISSIM and SimTraffic offer the easiest infrastructure coding, whereas AIMSUN, ARCHISIM, and SUMO require difficult coding. In terms of flexibility, AIMSUN, Paramics, and VISSIM allow for the most adaptable infrastructure modeling. Commercial simulators generally provide superior support for diverse vehicle types, pedestrians, emergency vehicles, and public transport compared to open-source alternatives. Regarding modern ITS features, all simulators support wired sensors, but only AIMSUN, Paramics, and VISSIM support wireless sensors. For GIS integration, AIMSUN, MATSim, TransModeler, and VISSIM offer full support, with MATSim being the only open-source simulator to do so. The significance of this study lies in its provision of a detailed, multi-criteria framework for selecting appropriate traffic simulation tools. By highlighting the trade-offs between ease of use, modeling fidelity, and support for emerging technologies like wireless sensors and GIS, the paper aids researchers and practitioners in choosing simulators that best fit specific urban traffic management needs. The analysis underscores that while commercial tools often lead in feature richness and visualization, open-source options like MATSim are increasingly competitive in specific areas such as GIS integration, influencing future development and adoption trends in the field.

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• simulator validity fidelity

Information type

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• Methodological Resource: tool software, validation psychometrics