Graphical User Interface

SIMLAB can be used in batch or graphical mode. The graphical version has a user interface that provides additional features such as:

• Interactive control of simulation: Menus, keys, mouse buttons and tool-bar icons are used to provide easy access to software capabilities. For example, the user can load a particular scenario, choose output of interest, zoom and navigate over the network, pause and resume a simulation run, and set check points at particular times to examine the intermediate results or network states.

    
  Figure 2-6:Graphical interface
  

• Display traffic network: All simulators (MITSIM, TMS, and MesoTS) can display network geometry, traffic data (e.g. average speed and density of each segment), measurements of surveillance detectors, and state of traffic signals and signs. Also, vehicle movements are animated in MITSIM and MesoTS (see Figure 2-6).
• Display OD flows: OD flows in the entire network and OD flows for a selected node can also be graphically displayed.
• Query network objects: All network objects (nodes, links, segments, lanes, sensors, signals and signs, paths, and OD pairs) can be queried by their ID and drawn with dedicated symbols.

The graphics mode, although slower than batch mode, provides an essential tool for checking the correctness of input data and visualizing the simulation process.