Using Virtual Reality to Determine How Visual Factors Impact Pedestrian Behavior - A Case Study in Hubin Road, China

This paper investigates a comprehensive system to apply the spatial-temporal grid method based on a visual, virtual model to collect adequate information for an in-depth understanding of pedestrian behavior affected by the landscape elements in an empirical study of the Hubin Road area (closed to West Lake) of Hangzhou, Capital of Zhejiang Province, one of most famous tourist cities in China. Using some well-known benchmarks of pedestrian practices, the paper presents the temporal distributions of walking activities and behaviors. This paper has four parts: (1) introduces the present research on the spatial-temporal method and the problems with the concept to analyze the effects on the pedestrian behavioral study, (2) defines the new model assembled by spatial modeling linked QTVR technology for presenting pedestrian behaviors in central sightseeing destinations, (3) summarizes the results of sequential pedestrian movement collected from the spatial-temporal grid investigation and the virtual experiences during sightseeing and strolling activities on the case study area, and finally, (4) make suggestions for the spatial planning of the study area, and implementing a vision of future studies based on this system.