Pedestrian Wayfinding and Evacuation in Virtual Reality

Abstract

This dissertation is focused on using Virtual Reality to study pedestrian wayfinding behaviour in buildings during both normal and emergency situations, from simple scenarios to complex scenarios. In particular, various empirical datasets featuring pedestrian wayfinding and evacuation behaviour were collected using different VR technologies to understand the usage of VR to investigate pedestrian behaviour and thereby generate new insights into pedestrian wayfinding behaviour in buildings. This thesis shows that different VR technologies (i.e., Mobile VR, HMD VR, Desktop VR) can collect valid behavioural data and study pedestrian wayfinding behaviour in various contexts.