GETAWAY is concerned with improving pedestrian wayfinding in transportation terminals, during emergency evacuation situations. A new concept is to be developed as part of this project called Intelligent Active Dynamic Signage Systems (IADSS) to assist in this process. Research performed by the FSEG has shown that only 38% of people see present passive signage in emergency situations. However, of the people who do see the sign, 100% follow the sign. This research therefore suggests that emergency signage systems can be extremely effective if people CAN and DO SEE them. The main objective of GETAWAY is to improve safety in transportation terminals through improved signage systems. To meet this prime objective, this project will develop and demonstrate, through a series of iterative steps, an innovative emergency signage system that will:
- significantly improve the detect ability of signage systems by 50%,
- achieve this without increasing the size of the sign or changing the visual content of the sign, thereby making it acceptable to owners, architects and regulatory authorities,
- make use of environmental information relating to the developing hazardous situation in real-time,
- make use of video analysis techniques that can determine the number of people within given regions within the station environment to an accuracy of 90%,
- make use of evacuation simulations involving 100s of people which can be performed at least 3 times faster than real time.