Crowds can be casual, such as a group of pedestrian walking down the road, or causal, like people participating in a marathon or protest.
While the main crowd is the subject of the bulk of the analysis, anomalies must be taken into account, like someone opposing the flow of traffic or a biker travelling through a group of walkers.
Significant research has been done to understand the way crowds move in order to predict where areas of conflicts may occur.
[6] In regard to computer animation, simulated individuals (referred to as agents) are often written to portray realistic crowd-like behavior.
They follow an algorithm based on stress, navigation fields, and surrounding agents in order to manipulate behavior.
[8] There are countless social applications of crowd analysis, ranging from uses within the film and video game industries, to uses in public planning.
A large aspect of public planning and its use of crowd analysis lies within the realm of situational representations for emergency evacuation.
Similar models are utilized within motion picture industries to produce realistic and lifelike simulations and scenes.