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IoT-based real time intelligent routing for emergent crowd evacuation

Yanlan Mei (School of Resource and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China) (School of Management, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China)
Ping Gui (School of Management, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China)
Xianfeng Luo (School of Management, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China)
Benbu Liang (School of Management, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China)
Liuliu Fu (Department of Information Systems, California State University – Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA)
Xianrong Zheng (Department of Information Technology and Decision Science, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, USA)

Library Hi Tech

ISSN: 0737-8831

Article publication date: 6 June 2019

Issue publication date: 13 September 2019

425

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to take advantage of Internet of Things (IoT) for intelligent route programming of crowd emergency evacuation in metro station. It is a novel approach to ensure the crowd safety and reduce the casualties in the emergency context. An evacuation route programming model is constructed to select a suitable evacuation route and support the emergency decision maker of metro station.

Design/methodology/approach

The IoT technology is employed to collect and screen information, and to construct an expert decision model to support the metro station manager to make decision. As a feasible way to solve the multiple criteria decision-making problem, an improved multi-attributive border approximation area comparison (MABAC) approach is introduced.

Findings

The case study indicates that the model provides valuable suggestions for evacuation route programming and offers practical support for the design of an evacuation route guidance system. Moreover, IoT plays an important role in the process of intelligent route programming of crowd emergency evacuation in metro station. A library has similar structure and crowd characteristics of a metro station, thus the intelligent route programming approach can be applied to the library crowd evacuation.

Originality/value

The highlights of this paper are listed as followings: the accuracy and accessibility of the metro station’s real-time information are improved by integrating IoT technology with the intelligent route programming of crowd emergency evacuation. An improved MABAC approach is introduced to the expert support model. It promotes the applicability and reliability of decision making for emergency evacuation route selection in metro station. It is a novel way to combine the decision-making methods with practice.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This research is supported by National Social Science Foundation of China (Project No. 15AGL021).

Citation

Mei, Y., Gui, P., Luo, X., Liang, B., Fu, L. and Zheng, X. (2019), "IoT-based real time intelligent routing for emergent crowd evacuation", Library Hi Tech, Vol. 37 No. 3, pp. 604-624. https://doi.org/10.1108/LHT-11-2017-0251

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

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