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can replicate any transport mode from buses to aircraft and autonomous vehicles.While the resource has clear relevance for innovators and start-ups working in the IM (Intelligent Mobility) space, the aim is also to create realistic and immersive simulations with the capacity to communicate solutions to industry decision-makers. Martin Pett, the TSC’s Visualisation Team Lead, explains: “Often the decision-makers are not transport modellers. With technologies such as Virtual Reality you can explain a proposal visually in a format that is engaging and easy to understand.“Plenty of visualisation tools are two-dimensional, but the challenges we face in the industry are three-dimensional. If you can place someone in a contextual environment that enables them to see what is being proposed and the options that are being considered, and add gaming-style content that makes it interactive, they are then able to see very clearly what the different options are.”For example, data on passenger numbers at train stations might be put into a crowd-simulation program, which is then hooked up to a separate simulation of a train station to study demand for services and passenger flow during different times of the day. With the headset on and motion-capture cameras rolling, a user can “walk through” the environment using the omni-directional treadmill and experience the “reality” of the scenario.A collaboration between the Visualisation Lab and Sheffield University is doing something very similar. The project uses the university’s Flame GPU (graphics processing unit) system, which introduces crowds with human behaviour into virtual environments. Using the Visualisation Lab’s Omnifinity treadmill and Virtual Reality headset, researchers are able to navigate London’s Canary Wharf station and interact with a crowd of thousands. The findings could inform anything from concourse size and layout to signage designed to help mitigate congestion.Martin Pett says that this ability to transform complex datasets into engaging virtual environments presents the transport industry with opportunities for problem-solving that were previously not possible, by “helping designers to understand their environment, visualise it, and communicate it”. Ultimately, this means that solutions to transport challenges can be found more quickly and cost-effectively, and that designers can “design better products with fewer design cycles, lower the cost of design and improve the end product”.Looking further into the future, it also opens the door to “virtual” mobility, which could change how people work, play and do business. In turn, this could reduce the need for travel and, by extension, the pressure on transport networks and infrastructure. VR-equipped satellite offices, for example, could enable employees to log into a “model” $120bn600Estimated combined value of VR and AR industries by 2020Membership of immersive industries professional network immerseuk.org28IMAGINE VISUALISATION LAB