How to manage outputs in Aimsun Next

Aimsun Next has clear graphical outputs to help you understand simulation results quickly and intuitively. Here are the topics we cover in this video:
00:00:17 - STATISTICS
00:00:48 - TIME SERIES
00:02:46 - VIEW MODES
00:05:04 - DYNAMIC LABELS
00:05:40 - PATH AND LINK ANALYSIS
00:06:24 - DATA COMPARISON
00:07:19 - PRINT LAYOUT
00:08:16 - RECORD AND REPLAY
00:09:05 - AIMSUN NEXT VIEWER

It couldn’t be more intuitive: simply double-click on an object to visualize and compare statistics: there’s no need to query an external database or to decrypt obscure text files.
Define a set of drawing criteria to display a label or to change the shape, the colour or the size of the graphical objects according to the value of an attribute. This gives you the means to create thematic maps that offer a clear a visual presentation of the simulation results to an audience that is not expert in the field.
As far as numerical outputs are concerned, Aimsun Next stores them in a database whose format is compatible with Access, SQLite, or an ODBC data source. The structure of this database is fixed and documented comprehensively in the manual. Therefore you can create a set of standard queries that read the information from the database and prepare reports that are consistent across projects. Another means of achieving the same output consistency is to use Python scripting to output the relevant data in a format that fits the exact requirements of an Excel template.
Output provided by the Aimsun Next microsimulator includes: 2D and 3D vehicle animation, vehicle and control information during the simulation, view modes and view styles created specifically for the simulation, statistical results, detection data and exportation of vehicle information.
Aimsun Next can display outputs as periodic statistics (aggregated by time interval) or global statistics (from the beginning of the simulation to the end of the simulation) and in different levels.
Aimsun Next provides a whole set of traffic statistics based on both local and global parameters (at the level of the entire system, sections, nodes, turning, subpaths, groups, links, origins, destinations, OD pairs, public transport lines, control and traffic management). More precisely, microscopic modelling produces the following results both in total and by vehicle type:
- Flow, Speed and Density
- Travel Time and Delay Time
- Queue Length
- Stop Time and Number of Stops
- Fuel Consumption and Pollution Emissions
- Total Distance Travelled and Total Travel Time
The result of any Aimsun Next object can be displayed as a graph or a table of values using the Time Series tab of their editor. In this tab, the user can choose any attribute to be shown for any microscopic simulation, any vehicle type and for any lane.
If you want to see various time series for different objects in the same graph, use the Time Series Viewer tool in the Data Analysis menu.
You can also collect statistics from the detectors located at specific points all over the network, which can be global (whole simulation period), aggregated (each detection time interval) or instantaneous (each simulation step) and can measure the following attributes: count, speed, density, headway, presence, occupancy.
Aimsun Next directly produces a summary of each simulation once this is completed, including a full range of overall system statistics. In addition, system statistics are collected and can be displayed and stored as time series.
Dynamic labels are a useful tool during a simulation, allowing you to display some outputs as text labels which are updated during the simulation (instantaneous statistics).
To enhance the visualisation of any attribute, including simulation results, you can define a criterion (View Style) to display a label or to change the shape, colour or size of the graphical objects according to the value of an attribute, which can be an output of the simulation. You can then group View Styles to create a thematic map. This map is, like the simulation, time-dependent; a clock allows you to choose to visualise the results for a specific aggregation period.
You can group a set of objects together to obtain global statistics for the group, for example creating subpaths (a route or path composed of a set of consecutive sections) or groups of objects of the same type.
Finally, if you need to compare certain attributes for network at a global level and for certain simulations, scenarios or real data sets, you can use the Data Comparison tool in the Data Analysis menu. The dialog serves to compare attributes in the whole network for different scenarios, that is, changing the traffic demand, the control plan or the public transport plan for different simulations.
For some objects, Aimsun Next provides other specific statistics. For example, for the public transport lines, it is possible to display the vehicle trajectories.
2D and 3D videos can be also made of any simulation of the model.