Defining connectors

Use the network editor to insert connectors between the end of a link and the start of another link. When dragging open a connector, you can set intermediate points and change the direction there. This also allows you to already model complex curves when inserting a connector.

The connector can connect two links that have different z-coordinates. In this case, Vissim calculates the z coordinates of the intermediate points of the connector for a harmonious course with a spline.

After inserting the connector, you can change the width of the lane using the corner and center drag points.

Notes:   Overlap the link and the connector as little as possible. This avoids modeling errors. Make sure there is no connector, connecting links with a large difference in altitude (e.g. 0.5 m) over a very short distance (e.g. 1 m). This applies in particular if you select the Use gradient from z-coordinate option (Selecting network settings for vehicle behavior). When you open *.inp files of previous Vissim versions, Vissim 6 deletes the two automatically created intermediate points that lie very close to the beginning and end of the connector. This makes it easier for you to select the start and end point of the connector in the Network editor.

 

Notes:   You can specify that you need not press the Ctrl key when adding network objects (Right-click behavior and action after creating an object). For some network objects there are windows in which the attributes of a network object can be defined and edited. There are lists for this, for all network objects. You can choose whether you want to open a window, a list or neither of the two for the definition of network objects in the Network Editor (Right-click behavior and action after creating an object).

Insert connector between From-ling and To-link

1.  On the network object sidebar, click Links.

2.  With the mouse pointer, point to the position in the link at which the connector is to begin.

The edges of the link are marked with arrows in the movement direction.

3.  Press the Ctrl key, hold down the right mouse button, and drag the mouse to the first desired end point of a curve.

Until the whole connector has been inserted, keep the Ctrl key and the right mouse button held down. Use the left mouse button to insert intermediate points.

4.  Hold down the Ctrl key and the right mouse button and click.

5.  Continue to add intermediate points until the connector reaches the position within the link where you want it to end.

In the network editor the connector is shown in color between the two links. The number of intermediate points of the connector just previously created is added to this one. The display type, lane closures and lane change attributes are taken from the From-link. The other attribute values are adopted from the destination link. You can move the intermediate points to model the connector precisely (Editing points in links or connectors). The Connector window opens. A new connector is assigned the attribute Number, which is a number available > 9,999.

6.  Release the keys.

The connector adopts the following destination link attributes:

• BehaviorType
• Display type
• Thickness (3D)
• Gradient
• Visualization
• Show classified values
• Lane change: No lane change
• Lane change: Blocked vehicle classes

7.  Edit the attributes (Attributes of connectors).

8.  Confirm with OK.

The attributes are saved in the Links list.

You can recalculate the spline and thus adjust the course of the connector, e.g. after you have moved points (Recalculating the spline).

Change the width of the connector (lane-based)

1.  On the network object sidebar, click Links.

2.  In the Network editor, click on the link.

The connector is highlighted. Corner and center drag points are displayed where editing is possible. If you point the mouse pointer to a corner or center drag point, arrows indicate the direction in which you can insert lanes and thus change the width:

3.  Click the desired corner or center drag point, hold down the mouse button and move the mouse in the desired direction.

The width of the lane will be changed.

4.  Release the mouse button.

Modeling inside merges

In inside merges, there are one or more lanes between the outer lanes that have no after To-links. Lanes that start between the outer lanes disappear until the end point of the connector. In the picture, the middle lane disappears in the lower three-lane connector so that the connector ends with only two lanes on the upper link:

You can merge a group of three lanes of the From-link into two lanes of the To-link if you want to keep the outer lanes and make the middle lane disappear.

1.  Insert the connector between the innermost lanes of the From-link and the innermost lanes of the To-link.

Vissim inserts the connector with the same number of lanes as the From-link, but with a maximum of four lanes. The inner lanes are retained as standard, while the outer lanes will disappear until the end point of the connector. However, to ensure that the two outer lanes are retained for inside merges and the inner lane disappears, follow these steps:

2.  If the connector is not selected, click the connector.

3.  Reduce the connector to one lane using the corner and center drag points.

4.  Move the start point and end point of the connector so that the single-lane connector you created now runs between the innermost lanes of the From-link and the To-link.

5.  Click the corner drag point at the start of the connector and extend its width by just one lane to the neighboring lane of the From-link.

The connector now starts with two lanes and ends with one. The lane, which becomes the middle lane at a later point in time, will already disappear until the end point of the connector.

6.  Click the center drag point and expand the width by one lane.

7.  Release the mouse button.

Only the outer lanes of the connector are connected to the outer lanes of the To-link.