Route Guides
Route Guides can be used to steer Entities away from certain areas of a model and thereby suggest they take an alternative route. They have a directional feature, similar to Analysis Lines, and the ability to filter for Entities. Sometimes Entities may cross a Route Guide as a result of congestion but they can also be set up as obstacles that cannot be crossed under any circumstances.
For example, you can use Route Guides to model one-way passageways (by blocking access to the passageway in one direction) or to restrict certain areas of a model to Entity Types representing staff or VIPs. The filter on Route Guides also helps when modelling routes for mobility impaired people, as inaccessible areas or elements can be barred to these types of Entity.
To place a Route Guide:
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Click the Route Guide
icon.
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Click in the workspace at the point you would like to start
drawing the guide.
Tip: Drawing from left to right will create a directional arrow pointing up; drawing from right to left will create a directional arrow pointing down; drawing top to bottom will create a directional arrow pointing to the right; drawing bottom to top will create a directional arrow pointing to the left.
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To draw a single segment, drag the cursor to the point where you
would like to place the other end of the line, click, and press
Enter.
To draw a poly-line, drag the cursor to the point where you would like to place the other end of the first line and click; then move the cursor to the point where you would like to place the end of the second line and click, and so on for each new line you would like to place as part of the Poly-line. Click and press Enter to complete the line.
The ‘Edit Route Guide <name>’ dialog box is displayed.
- Enter an appropriate name for the Route Guide.
- If you want the Route Guide to keep Entities from crossing it in either direction, check Affect Entities in either direction.
- If you want the Route Guide to work as an inviolable obstacle, check Function as an obstacle.
- To specify which specific Entities are affected by the Route Guide, click the ‘Entity Filter’ tab and specify the filters in the standard manner as described in Specifying filter settings .
- If you want to link the Route Guide to an Availability Profile, click on the ‘Availability’ tab.
- Select an Availability Profile from the drop-down list labelled ‘Time Scope’. If you don’t want to apply conditions, proceed to step 14.
- If you want to apply conditions to the Availability Profile, check the box labelled ‘use condition’.
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Select an option from the left-hand drop-down list:
- AND – the condition will apply only when the ‘Time scope’ settings and the conditional settings are both ‘true’.
- OR – the condition will apply when either the ‘Time scope’ settings or the conditional settings are ‘true’.
The OR option is useful in cases where, for example, you may wish to allow a higher number of Entities out of an exit when an unforeseeable instance of high density occurs at a time not covered by the Availability Profile.
- Set up your condition as described from step 4 of "To set up a Condition:" in Setting up Conditions .
- If you wish to apply any restrictions to the condition, click on the ‘Availability’ tab again and enter values for the following restrictions (details in Restrictions ):
- Click OK.