preloader
blog-post

The creation of a synthetic population for use in micro-simulation modes

Mario Cools

“The creation of a synthetic population for use in micro-simulation”

Abstract : In this teaser presentation, I will give an overview of different articles that pertain to different aspects of population synthesis, which is the process of creating a synthetic population for use in micro-simulation models. The main focus of the articles is on the use of various methods, such as Markov Chain Monte Carlo - MCMC - simulations, iterative proportional fitting, and Hidden Markov Models - HMM -, to generate a representative micro-sample of the population. The presentation also discuss the validation of these methods using various data sources such as mobile phone data, activity-travel diaries, and households travel surveys. All articles agree that these methods are more accurate and flexible than traditional methods, and can effectively capture the behavioral complexity and heterogeneity of the population. They also demonstrate the potential of these methods to contribute to the reliability of travel demand models and the mitigation of future flood risk. The articles also discuss the integration of these methods with other fields such as urban planning, transport engineering, hydrology, geology, environmental engineering, and economics.