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Building a Model

This topic presents a high-level overview of the stages required to give to a transport modeller a sense of how to get started and what are the steps to follow when purchasing a license of the Aimsun Next software. It is designed to guide mainly freshmen on the Aimsun Next software.

The main stages of the building an Aimsun Next model require the following actions:

  1. Designing a Traffic Model - An overview on how to design and manage different components of a transportation model in the Aimsun Next software.

  2. Creating a New Project - Creating a new project with a with a template and setting up the basic vehicle and road types.

  3. Exploring the User Interface - Describing the main windows in Aimsun Next and the common user interactions.

  4. Importing or Exporting Data - Importing a transport network from CAD, GIS or from other transport models. Learning how to import as a graphical background or as a pre-prepared transport network from multiple sources.

  5. Building Traffic Network - Editing the network to refine it by shaping road sections, setting up turns at junctions.

  6. Creating Traffic Demand - Editing the vehicle and user types to segment a simple "Traffic State" based on observed counts only or a "Traffic Demand" based on an OD demand matrix with a centroid configuration.

  7. Creating Traffic Signals - Creating traffic signals, control plans and master control plans.

  8. Defining Transit - Creating transit stops, lines and timetables.

  9. Importing Observed Data - Importing observed data measurements in Aimsun Next using the Read Data Set objects to validate the simulation performance.

  10. Adding Traffic Management - Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) can be simulated with the traffic management scenarios and traffic conditions.

  11. Simulating Pedestrians - Pedestrians can be included in a microscopic and mesoscopic simulation model with the embedded pedestrian simulator.

  12. Adding Text, Lines and Polygons - Adding 2D and 3D visualization objects in the project area.

For more experienced users already familiar with the Aimsun Next software, terms and project workflows, we recommend to use the search box on the upper right corner to look for specific information in a more efficient way.