What is the most realistic configuration for NAM Traffic Simulator Configuration Tool?

[anupamnath 4]

What are the most realistic (real world like) values I can set in NAM Traffic Simulator Configuration Tool using all the parameters in that tool? Please give answer with reference/examples of various types of networks (shown in Simcity 4 & NAM) capacities in real world.

[CorinaMarie 29,945]

18 hours ago, anupamnath said:

Please give answer with reference/examples of various types of networks (shown in Simcity 4 & NAM) capacities in real world.

Ooo. Sounds sort of like a college thesis is needed. While I can't supply what you have requested, I have been reading these files and found then quite interesting:

http://www.indevelopment.nl/PDFfiles/CapacityOfRroads.pdf

http://content.tfl.gov.uk/technical-note-10-what-is-the-capacity-of-the-road-network-for-private-motorised-traffic.pdf

http://nacto.org/docs/usdg/road_diets_fixing_big_roads_burden.pdf

http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2140&context=roadschool

Good luck in your quest.

[z1 566]

20 hours ago, anupamnath said:

What are the most realistic (real world like) values I can set in NAM Traffic Simulator Configuration Tool using all the parameters in that tool?

Well, that's actually a trick question.  The problem is that the rest of the game isn't realistic.  For example, population density tends to be many times higher than in the real world.  And the transportation system does not act realistically at all; part of the GUI's job is to deceive you into thinking that it does.  But none of the motorized traffic ever stops for stop signs or stop lights (or anything else, for that matter).  Nor does any of the mass transit ever stop at intermediate stops.  How does that work with a bus full of Sims?  Well, buses, like all mass transit vehicles, always hold exactly one Sim.  For that matter, mass transit vehicles are an abstraction that doesn't really exist in the code.  For example, you may have a Sim acting like a pedestrian until reaching a bus stop, whereupon the Sim starts behaving like a bus; when the Sim reaches a subway station, if it appears to board the subway, in reality it just starts behaving like a subway train.

This also means that Sims never wait for the bus or the train, or whatever.  Their journey moves uninterrupted from source to destination.  There's no stopping for stops, and buses don't stop at stoplights, either.  Imagine if real world mass transit worked like that!

It is due to these differences and others that real world values are actually irrelevant when configuring the NAM Traffic Simulator.  Instead, the default values of the simulator have been chosen to fit in with the rest of the city simulation as best as possible, with the goal of making the city simulation as a whole as realistic as possible.  The Traffic Simulator Configuration Tool allows these values to be adjusted for particular cities or particular tastes (or both).  Using the default values of the traffic simulator will generally give you an excellent experience.  But in the end, the most realistic values are the values that make your city as a whole look most realistic to you.