While the importance of disaster management is emphasized nationwide, a Korean SME localized the 3D evacuation simulation software for large buildings and complex facilities which used to depend on imports 100%.

With the establishment of the Ministry of Public Safety and Security the government is expanding investments in safety management, and thus this localization is expected to have the import substitution effect. The development of the local SW reflecting the Korean body types and response systems is also expected to make it possible to respond to disasters more effectively.

On January 18 a spatial information SW company Virtual Builders, which received government support, developed and commercialized the 3D evacuation simulation SW for large complex buildings for development of the evacuation safety assessment technology.

The company began R&D back in May 2011 and completed the project at the end of last year. The Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, Kyungpook National University, Korea Fire Protection UBIS and Kunkook E&I participated in the research.

When designing large complex buildings, construction companies predict and reflect the routes people take for evacuation and how they evacuate with virtual simulation in order to reduce damages due to disasters. As 100% of the 3D evacuation SW is imported, however, it has been pointed out that such software is unrealistic because it fails to reflect the body types of Koreans or the unique culture of Korea. Since the price of this SW is exorbitant, a considerable number of construction companies avoided 3D evacuation simulation.

To solve this problem, the National Emergency Management Agency (currently the Ministry of Public Safety and Security) embarked on a project to develop the man-made disaster prevention technology back in 2011, and began to localize the 3D evacuation simulation SW. The agency invested a total of KRE1,348.76 million, including KRE980 million in government grants, over a 3-year period.

The product developed by Virtual Builders uses 3D spatial information to provide such functions as evacuation simulation, fire simulation and human behavior models used for evacuation simulation. It also includes the tools for testing evacuation safety. It can be applied to complex facilities, such as subway stations, skyscrapers and large shopping malls. As it provides the open application programming interface (API), it can support researches on fire prevention and evacuation simulation in the future.

As the Korean-made 3D evacuation simulation SW is scheduled to be sold at less than half the price of foreign SW, it will have a huge import substitution effect as well. “Now the development is completed and to increase user convenience, we are enhancing the performance of the SW,” said a Virtual Builders insider. “If performance enhancement is completed, we will propose to supply it to construction companies in earnest.”