person is able to move from point A to point B in a way that is efficient and that a collective group of people can operate more effectively as a result. In a broader sense, bus systems and roadside restaurants serve a spatial purpose in their locations through an understanding of human movement patterns. The SimCity video game series exemplifies this concept in a more simplistic manner. In this series, the player assigns city development in designated zones while maintaining a healthy budget. The progression from empty land to a bustling city is fully controlled by the player's choices and the digital citizens behave as according to the city's design and events. Evacuation and riot handling Simulated realistic crowds can be used in training for riots handling, architecture, safety science (evacuation planning). Military Being that crowd simulations are so prevalent in use for public planning and general order with regards to chaotic situations, many applications can be drawn for governmental and military simulations. Crowd modeling is essential in police and military simulation in order to train officers and soldiers to deal with mass gatherings of people. Not only do offensive combatants prove to be difficult for these individuals to handle, but noncombatant crowds play significant roles in making these aggressive situations more out of control. Game technology is used in order to simulate these situations for soldiers and technicians to practice their skills. Sociology The behavior of a modeled crowd plays a prominent role in analytical matters. These dynamics rely on the physical behaviors of individual agents within a crowd rather than the visual reality of the model itself. The social behaviors of people within these constructs have been of interest for many years, and the sociological concepts which underpin these interactions are constantly studied. The simulation of crowds in different situations allows for sociological study of real life gatherings in a variety of arrangements and locations. The variations in human behavior in situations varying in stress-levels allows for the further development and creation of crowd control strategies which can be more specifically applied to situations rather than generalized. See also 3D computer graphics Artificial intelligence Crowd analysis Emergent behavior Multi-agent system Particle system Crowd simulation software STEPS by Mott MacDonald Alice Software by the Moving Picture Company Golaem Crowd Massive (software) Miarmy Quadstone Paramics VISSIM References External links SteerSuite, An open-source framework for developing and evaluating crowd simulation algorithms