FAQs about PTV Viswalk

PTV Viswalk is a microscopic pedestrian simulation software for crowd modeling and pedestrian flow analysis in stations, airports, events, sidewalks, and public spaces. It’s used to test layouts, capacity, pedestrian safety analysis, evacuation simulation, and urban walkability improvements. It integrates with PTV Vissim for multimodal traffic simulation (pedestrians with vehicles/cyclists) and is Hub-ready for cloud collaboration via PTV Hub. It supports scalable studies with analytic outputs (densities, delays, heatmaps) and visuals that help decision-makers plan pedestrian infrastructure planning, crowd management, and ROI-driven designs.

• User-Friendly Interface: With its graphical user interface it is easy to get started with PTV Viswalk.
• Flexible Modeling Elements: PTV Viswalk offers modelling elements which are highly flexible such that even use cases can be addressed which were not considered for PTV Viswalk originally.
• Smooth, Fast Simulations: PTV Viswalk can be run with up to 20 simulation time steps per second which allows to produce simulation animations without post-processing.
• Real-Time, Large-Scale Capability: PTV Viswalk is fast, it can run in real time with up to 100,000 pedestrians (depending on the complexity of the model).
• Multi-Modal Integration: When used as a module of PTV Vissim it is the only traffic and transportation simulation system which considers all mode of transport - cars, cyclists, public transport, and pedestrians - at equal rights.
• Diverse Route Choice Options: With the dynamic potential, walking attractiveness, partial routes, and formula-based route decisions there is a high flexibility to consider diverse determinants of route choice, navigation, and path planning.
• Data Import for Quick Setup: The import options (CAD/DWG, BIM/IFC, OpenDrive, DMP) allow a project quick start when such data is available.
• Built-in Scenario Manager: The dedicated scenario manager helps to manage the scenarios and options within a project. The comparison of results from different scenarios is particularly useful.
   

PTV Viswalk models pedestrians microscopically using an extended and modified Social Force approach, capturing interactions between people and with the environment; it’s used for crowd modeling, egress, and design testing. For multimodal studies, PTV Vissim + PTV Viswalk simulate pedestrians together with vehicles and bicycles. This combination enables realistic non-motorized behavior alongside traffic, supporting planning questions from urban walkability and pedestrian safety to crowd management and evacuation simulation.

PTV Viswalk is dedicated microscopic pedestrian simulation for crowd modeling, egress, and pedestrian facility planning, using the Social Force approach. Pedestrians' path planning happens on areas (i.e. in 2d). PTV Vissim is the microscopic traffic simulation platform for vehicles (and other modes), used to evaluate and optimize road networks, transit operations, and multimodal scenarios. A simplified model of pedestrians as slow and small vehicles is available in Vissim as well. For these path planning is confied to pre-defined links of a network. In multimodal studies, they’re complementary, you can run PTV Vissim for traffic and add the PTV Viswalk module when you need realistic pedestrian dynamics and pedestrian–vehicle interactions in one model.

PTV Viswalk can seamlessly integrate with vehicle traffic simulations (e.g., in PTV Vissim) to model how pedestrians interact with cars, buses, and even cyclists using conflict areas, signals, detectors, and priority rules, so crossings, shared spaces, stations, and road traffic are evaluated together. For planning and design, this pairing lets teams test pedestrian flow, safety, evacuation, and crowd management alongside traffic operations in the same scenario. 

PTV Viswalk uses a microscopic Social Force Model to simulate realistic crowd dynamics: each pedestrian is an agent driven toward a destination while responding to others and obstacles via calibrated forces. 

This fundamental dynamics model has been embedded in a navigation framework. The dynamic potential allows path planning for earliest arrival instead of shortest path. 

How it works:

• Static or dynamic, formula-based route decisions allow to model steering behavior on the tactical level.
• Dedicated network objects like elevators and escalators are available for easy use in a simulation model.
• As Viswalk pedestrians are subject to traffic signals, priority rules, and conflict areas and since they are "seen" by traffic detectors, PTV Viswalk is integrated with the road traffic simulation of PTV Vissim.
• In sum this produces credible crowd modeling and pedestrian flow analysis for stations, events, buildings, and public space design. 

PTV Viswalk is used to design and test pedestrian infrastructure by simulating microscopic crowd dynamics (Helbing social-force) to assess capacity, LOS, queues, and routing for crossings, platforms, concourses, and sidewalks informing widths, layouts, and control strategies. 

For cyclist interaction and shared spaces, PTV Viswalk runs inside PTV Vissim so pedestrians, bicycles (a native vehicle category), and vehicles interact using conflict areas, signals, detectors, and priority rules letting you evaluate crosswalks, cycle tracks, and multimodal urban walkability in one model. For building-scale projects, IFC/BIM import brings architectural geometry into PTV Viswalk to test evacuation and crowd management scenarios that still coexist with street traffic in PTV Vissim.

Yes, PTV Viswalk is built for walkability analysis: it simulates microscopic pedestrian flows and provides grid-based density/speed evaluations that generate LOS heatmaps to reveal delays at bottlenecks, signals, crossings, and queues, crowding on platforms, during evacuations and in public spaces. Planners can iterate designs (e.g., widths, queuing areas, stair/ramp layouts) and compare scenarios to improve pedestrian infrastructure. BIM/IFC import lets you bring building geometry straight into PTV Viswalk for realistic facility testing. PTV Viswalk’s routing logic and measurements support decisions on circulation and wayfinding, turning analysis insights into concrete design changes.

PTV Viswalk models pedestrians microscopically (Helbing social-force approach) and, when run with PTV Vissim, resolves interactions with cyclists in shared spaces using configurable conflict areas, signals, detectors, and priority rules, so yielding, crossing, and mixed-use behavior are simulated realistically in one model. Cyclists are a native Bike vehicle category in PTV Vissim, allowing speed and behavior to be tuned while PTV Viswalk governs pedestrian dynamics. Recent updates also refine conflict-area behavior for safer lane-change situations near waiting pedestrians. For design teams, this means PTV Viswalk can assess walkability and crowd flow while faithfully reflecting cyclist interactions in shared plazas, crossings, and slow-streets, keeping the focus on pedestrian outcomes.

PTV Viswalk supports safety-focused crossing design by combining realistic pedestrian behavior with targeted evaluations, you can model pedestrian crossings (incl. a dedicated controller type in the 2025 release) and configure conflict areas and right-of-way to reflect crossing rules. This lets you measure how long people have to wait, where they wait, how flows form, and whether priority settings protect late crossers. PTV Viswalk then quantifies conditions around the crosswalk using grid-based density/speed and LOS heatmaps plus area measurements for throughput and dwell so bottlenecks, long waits, and crowding near curbs become visible and comparable across designs. When vehicle presence matters, you can enable pedestrians to consider vehicles in their dynamic potential at conflict areas to better mirror cautious behavior during crossing approaches while keeping the analysis centered on pedestrian outcomes.

PTV Viswalk lets planners test design options before they’re built and quantify where pedestrian spaces need improvement. It simulates crowd dynamics to validate capacity, routing, and egress for stations, airports, venues, and streetscapes. It produces grid-based density/speed and LOS heatmaps to reveal bottlenecks and delays and provides area measurements for throughput, dwell, and waiting patterns to support targeted safety fixes (e.g., wider sidewalks, larger waiting areas, adjusted crossing layouts). IFC/BIM import brings building geometry into the model so infrastructure changes can be assessed in realistic floorplans and public-space layouts. Together, these tools turn walkability findings into concrete, data-backed design decisions that improve safety and efficiency.

PTV Viswalk is used for microscopic pedestrian simulation and crowd modeling across rail/metro stations, airports, event venues, public buildings, and streetscapes to test capacity, routing, waiting areas, and evacuation/egress before you build. It supports walkability and pedestrian safety analysis with density/speed/LOS evaluations and helps size passages, platforms, and queuing areas. For building projects, BIM/IFC imports enable realistic floor-plan testing. In multimodal planning - stations as well as the road space - PTV Viswalk is used as a module of PTV Vissim when needed. For fire safety planning PTV Viswalk can import, visualize and consider results from FDS for simulation.

Yes, PTV Viswalk is built for evacuation and crowd-safety studies. It simulates microscopic evacuee behavior and reports the SET (safe egress time) needed to empty a building or area as well as density and speed heat maps. Result data from FDS can be read; physiological impact is calculated according to Purser. This can be used for pedestrian route decisions as well as reducing their walking speeds.

PTV Viswalk helps city planners improve pedestrian safety and ROI by testing designs before construction. It simulates crowd dynamics and produces grid-based density/speed heatmaps and LOS visuals to pinpoint overcrowding and delay at crossings, platforms, and sidewalks, so it indicates where pedestrians might be incentivized for example to walk at red or even be forced to evade on the road. Planners can quantify throughput, waiting, and dwell with area measurements, compare scenarios, and justify changes (e.g., wider sidewalks, larger waiting zones, revised crossings) with data-backed evidence.  With the import of OpenDRIVE and DMP data there are ways to boost model setup.

Municipal planning

• Stations/platforms/concourses: size and redesign; relieve bottlenecks; reduce dwell; improve walkability and safety
• Sidewalks & crossings: testing layouts and control for safe pedestrian operations
• Public-transport corridors (BRT/trunk lines): station/platform layout and boarding/alighting impacts

Commercial projects

• Stadiums & arenas: validate queues, egress, and visitor experience before build-out
• Airports: assess pedestrian–vehicle interaction at drop-off/pick-up and terminal approach
• Malls & attractions: visitor circulation, queueing, vertical circulation (elevators/escalators)
• Museums & cultural venues/events: visitor flow and capacity during large events

Cross-sector analytics

• Decision support: grid-based density/speed (LOS) heatmaps; area measurements (throughput, waiting, dwell) to compare scenarios and justify investments

Typical PTV Viswalk users include urban/traffic planners, city agencies, transport consultants, architects/building owners, fire safety officers/emergency planners, and operators/managers of stations, airports, and event venues i.e., teams that must design, test, and operate pedestrian spaces at scale.

Yes, PTV Viswalk is actively used in academic research and teaching. PTV’s Academia program offers Student, Thesis, Research, and Academic licenses; the PTV Mobility full version explicitly includes PTV Viswalk, and the Research License supports university projects. A public Research Paper Archive also showcases peer-reviewed work using PTV software, including PTV Viswalk, evidence of broad scholarly adoption.

PTV Viswalk turns pedestrian questions into quantified design evidence: it simulates microscopic crowd behavior (Helbing social-force) so teams can compare design options before they build. Planners diagnose problems with grid-based density/speed and LOS heatmaps, and prove improvements with area measurements for throughput, waiting, and dwell making bottlenecks and delays visible and comparable across scenarios. IFC/BIM import brings real building geometry into the model, aligning analysis with architectural plans and reducing redesign risk while the product is positioned for stations, airports, venues, and streets that require safe, efficient people movement. Together, these tools de-risk investments, accelerate approvals, and support data-backed decisions in urban and transport projects.

PTV Viswalk is designed for large-scale crowd simulation. Unlike ordinary pedestrian simulation implementations where run time scales with the square of the number of pedestrians with PTV Viswalk it scales about linearly. This means that in practice the maximum number of pedestrians is determined by your PTV Viswalk license size and hardware, not a fixed global cap. In PTV Vissim without the PTV Viswalk module, pedestrian count is capped at 30; with the PTV Viswalk add-on, the limit is set by the PTV Viswalk license size (i.e., higher tiers permit more pedestrians). For big models, PTV recommends managing memory-intensive features such as grid-based density/speed evaluations (which have notable RAM needs), and starting with PTV Vissim/PTV Viswalk 2025, you can run cloud calculations on high-performance machines to handle heavy scenarios.

PTV Viswalk offers grid-based evaluations of pedestrian density and speed that render LOS heatmaps (including averaged images across multiple runs) for quick diagnosis of crowding and delay combining analysis with clear, built-in visualization. For KPIs, you get area measurements (throughput, dwell/waiting, class filters, export to text/DB) and travel-time measurements that include waits between start/end areas producing comparable, data-backed assessments across scenarios. Visuals are configurable (color schemes, examples provided), and recent versions drastically reduced memory usage for grid evaluations, supporting larger studies without sacrificing fidelity.

Yes, PTV Viswalk is built for evacuation and crowd-safety studies. It simulates microscopic evacuee behavior and reports the time needed to empty a building or area as well as density and speed heat maps. Result data from FDS can be read; physiological impact is calculated according to Purser.This can be used for pedestrian route decisions as well as reducing their walking speeds.

Commercial pricing for PTV Viswalk is quote-based, with a free demo/trial available. It has single-user or floating network licenses and cloud (CmCloud) containers managed through PTV License Manager. For education and research, PTV Academia offers Student, Thesis, Research, and Academic licenses (including packages that list PTV Viswalk), providing free/discounted access instead of commercial pricing.

Yes, PTV Viswalk offers a free trial (demo) with near-complete functionality via the official product form. For academia, PTV provides Student, Thesis, Research, and Academic licenses through PTV Academia; the program explicitly lists PTV Viswalk within the PTV Mobility packages, with free/discounted options for non-commercial use (e.g., Student ~6-month free; Thesis up to two years free; institutional Academic pricing on request). 

PTV Viswalk pays for itself by turning pedestrian questions into quantified design evidence before you build. It produces grid-based density/speed evaluations with LOS heatmaps (including averaged images over many runs) to expose crowding and delay, and it adds area measurements for throughput, dwell and waiting so alternatives can be compared and defended in approvals. Design risk drops further with BIM/IFC import bringing real building geometry straight into PTV Viswalk so layout changes are tested on the actual floorplan, not abstractions. Recent releases also cut memory usage for grid evaluations to ~1/10, enabling larger, faster studies directly improving delivery time and study scope. Real projects (e.g., ETH/SBB station planning, ProRail Amsterdam Centraal) showcase PTV Viswalk’s role in de-risking high-stakes investments by validating capacity, wayfinding, and waiting areas before construction.

Primary channels are the PTV Helpdesk portal and the PTV Viswalk “Downloads, Learning & Support” hub, which links self-learning, Helpdesk & FAQ, and training. You also have the PTV Viswalk Knowledge Base (how-tos, tutorials) and the online PTV Vissim/PTV Viswalk Help manual. For training and webinars, you can use PTV Trainings (courses + calendar) and PTV Talks sessions. PTV organizes multiple user group meetingsper year at different places in the world where a direct exchange with PTV staff as well as other users is possible. Exchange with other users also happens in the PTV Vissim group at linkedin with more than 10,000 members.

Yes, PTV offers multiple training paths for PTV Viswalk: a central Downloads, Learning & Support hub links self-learning materials and Helpdesk/FAQ. The PTV Viswalk Knowledge Base provides video tutorials and instructor-led courses (including PTV Viswalk pedestrian simulation classes) can be booked via the PTV Trainings portal and training calendar. Webinars are available through PTV Talks.

Getting started with PTV Viswalk is easy. Creating a first, simple model can be done in a couple of minutes since the graphical user interface is very clean and sober. Tutorial videos at YouTube can assist in the early stages. Getting to learn all elements takes time and for learning how to use the dynamic elements like formulas, user-defined attributes, attribute modifications and scripts to implement non-standard use case models the learning curve never completely flattens.