Signage visibility analysis and optimization system using BIM-enabled virtual reality (VR) environments

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Abstract

The proper placement of signage greatly influences pathfinding and information provision in public spaces. Clear visibility, easy comprehension, and efficient placement are all important for successful signage. We propose a signage visibility analysis and optimization system, utilizing an updated Building Information Model (BIM) and a game engine software application to simulate the movement of pedestrians. BIM can provide an up-to-date digital representation of a building and its assets, while computer simulation environments have the potential to simulate the movement of pedestrians. Combining these two technologies provides an opportunity to create a tool that analyzes the efficiency of installed signage and visualizes them in VR environments. The proposed tool contains algorithms, functions and predefined scenarios to calculate the coverage and the visibility of a building’s signage system. This system assists building managers to analyze (visually or by using statistics) the visibility of signboards, to assess their proper placement, and to optimize their placement. The applicability of the method has been validated in case studies performed in subway stations in Japan.

Introduction

In recent years, with the emergence of smartphones, pedestrians have taken advantage of the capacity of these devices to locate their position and find the best route to their destination when outdoors. However, indoor navigation is affected by the low accuracy of indoor positioning technologies and by outdated floorplans. Maps and signage systems therefore continue to play a significant role in helping pedestrians reach their destinations. In addition to being positioning and navigational aids, maps and signs can provide other types information, by indicating available services, regulatory information, and the location of emergency exits. For the purpose of pathfinding and navigation, pedestrians prefer to use signage rather than a map, as it is quicker to navigate using signage [12], [18]. Cliburn and Rilea [18] conducted a test among three groups, who searched for a virtual building: pedestrians without any aid, those with a dynamic electronic map, and pedestrians who used signs. The results show that people who navigated using the signs were significantly faster than those who used a map.

As the placement of signage systems improves pathfinding and access to information in public spaces, clear visibility and the proper placement of signs needs to be ensured. However, many signs in public spaces are not clearly visible (e.g., due to obstructions), or are not efficiently placed. Notably, during emergencies, poor signage systems can be a potential danger for people in extremely stressful situations [46]. On the other hand, a site with an efficient wayfinding system gives pedestrians a good feeling and encourages them to visit it again [21], [58].

Improving the efficiency of signage system design has always been a challenge for designers, planners, and building managers. Some environments are architecturally and geometrically complex and may have a high amount of traffic. Additionally, different pedestrians’ groups with different goals must be served. As a result, it can be difficult to predict which potential design for a particular signboard or which sign location renders the best usability [10]. One part of the design challenge is related to the analysis of signage visibility. Currently signage system design is done by means of general guidelines, expertise, or field assessment, using trial and error by taking into account the theoretical visibility of the signs and performing a field check to ensure their visibility [56].

This paper investigates the potential of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Virtual Reality (VR) for optimizing signage design. In BIM, a 3D model of a building is created containing an updated geometry of all of the building’s assets [32]. It can be used to provide an up-to-date digital representation of the building and its assets, such as available signage. VR is a computer simulated environment that can simulate a physical presence in a real or an imagined world [33]. VR simulation environments have the potential to simulate the movement of pedestrians in various movement patterns and travel scenarios [4]. Combining BIM and computer simulation technologies provides an opportunity to create a tool that uses the geometry and properties of a building and its signage system to simulate the movement of pedestrians, analyze the efficiency of installed signage, optimize signage placement design and visualize possible enhancements in the VR environment.

The objectives of this research are: (1) to investigate the parameters that affect the signage visibility; (2) to develop a signage visibility and analysis system that uses an as-built BIM model of a building to calculate the signboards’ visibility area and the ratio of moving pedestrians who can perceive the signs; (3) to investigate methods for optimizing the placement of signage using a computer simulation environment; and (4) to validate the applicability of our developed system using field data.

This paper proposes using an updated BIM (i.e., Autodesk Revit model [47]) of a building to define its geometry, and a game engine software framework (i.e., Unity [55]) to simulate the movement of pedestrians (i.e., agents). The factors that impact signage visibility are identified and discussed. A modular simulation tool was developed to assist designers, planners and building managers in identifying and visualizing the visibility area for each installed sign, considering the geometry of space, obstacles, the properties of the sign, and the average height of pedestrians. Additionally, the tool calculates the ratio of pedestrians who can potentially read the sign while considering the properties of the sign, the pedestrians’ speed, required comprehension time, and the direction of movement. The developed system helps to analyze different design options for the placement of signboards and to find their best placement location alternatives.

This research contributes to the body of knowledge by: (1) proposing a new method to create an integrated virtual environment in which an as-built BIM and crowd movement simulations are utilized to visually and quantitatively assess the visibility of signage and to optimize their placement; (2) proposing new definitions for the properties of signboards in a standard BIM; (3) introducing a new index (i.e., a visibility ratio) to assess the efficiency of signage systems while considering the audience for each signboard and its required comprehension time; and (4) implementing a modular BIM-based simulation environment in which pedestrians’ movement in a non-congested environment is simulated and the signage visibility for different pedestrian groups is visually assessed and numerically calculated in 3D.

Section snippets

Building Information Modeling (BIM) and the signage system

BIM is emerging as a method for creating, sharing, exchanging and managing information throughout the lifecycle of a building between all the stakeholders [41]. Its applications extend throughout the building’s lifecycle from the planning and design steps to processes, which include cost management, construction management, project management and facility operation. Recently, some researchers investigated including the signage system in the BIM models. For example, Tseng et al. [52] used BIM to

Research vision

The long-term vision of this research is to create a signage assessment and optimization solution that automatically designs an optimum signage system for existing or new facilities. Fig. 1 shows the process flow and required modules of this visionary system for optimizing signage of existing buildings. The system has four main steps: (1) Data Collection: in this step, automatic field data capture technologies (such as photographs and point cloud) are used to gather as-built data. Additionally,

Overview of the proposed methodology

The proposed method utilizes a BIM-enabled VR environment to simulate the movement of agents (representations of real pedestrians in a virtual world) to analyze the efficiency of signage placement. It proposes using an as-built BIM model, which includes the updated geometry of the environment and available assets in the building, and integrating it with the VR engine. The proposed method consists of four main processes: (1) modeling and data integration (explained in Subsection 4.2); (2)

Case studies

Two case studies are presented in this paper that target the demonstration of different applications and use cases of the proposed system. The visualizations of the visibility area and calculating signage coverage ratio along with calculating the visibility ratio were performed in both case studies.

Conclusions and future work

This research investigated a method that integrates BIM and VR environments to analyze the visibility of the signage system. Based on the proposed method, a modular and customizable prototype software tool has been developed and tested. In our developed tool, the visibility area for a sign is calculated based on the viewing distance and viewing angle for a pedestrian of certain height. However, the developed tool can adopt various other techniques to calculate the visibility area. The

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI Grant Number JP26-04368.

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