Use of multimedia to augment simulation

The authors describes efforts to integrate multimedia and simulation, the general domain of interest being regional mobility. Multimedia have been used to augment simulation of highway maintenance, interactive sessions of a transportation management association (TMA), traffic mobility in a highly congested area, and traffic signage. Results thus far show that one of the more important aspects for successful application of multimedia techniques is a graphical user interface. It is a difficult task to prevent information overload; however, the graphical user interface permits management of information transfer rates and presentation dynamics while reducing the potential impact of information overload. Other results indicate the value added from proper useage of audio, video, text, and graphics, and various combinations of these to augment ease of understanding of simulation model presentations