An introduction to eqasim
Replicable synthetic populations in France
Sebastian Hörl
17 November 2027
SAGEO Workshop
Synthetic populations: Introduction
Definition
- Representation digital version of the real population of a territory
- Persons (single-level) or households with persons (two-level) population
- Households and persons with individual attributes
- Persons with individual activity chains
0:00 - 8:00
08:30 - 17:00
0:00 - 9:00
10:00 - 17:30
17:45 - 21:00
22:00 - 0:00
17:30 - 0:00
Synthetic populations: Pipeline
Pipeline
- Households and persons
- Primary activity locations
- Activity chains
- Secondary activity locations
RP
BAN
BD-TOPO
MOBPRO
MOBETUD
SIRENE
BPE
ENTD
Data
Goals
- Generate individual households and persons
- Choose a distinct place of residence
French population census
| Household ID | Person ID | Zone | Age | Sex | ... | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 512 | 1 | 75013 | 35 | f | ... | 3.2 |
| 512 | 2 | 75013 | 32 | m | ... | 3.2 |
| 516 | 1 | 75019 | 42 | m | ... | 4.1 |
| ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
Upsampling of persons using Truncate-Replicate-Sample (TRS)
Synthetic populations: Pipeline
Pipeline
- Households and persons
- Primary activity locations
- Activity chains
- Secondary activity locations
RP
BAN
BD-TOPO
MOBPRO
MOBETUD
SIRENE
BPE
ENTD
Data
Goals
- Generate individual households and persons
- Choose a distinct place of residence
Sampling by number of housing units per building
French bulding database
French address database
Synthetic populations: Pipeline
Pipeline
- Households and persons
- Primary activity locations
- Activity chains
- Secondary activity locations
Data
Goal
- Choose work places and education locations
RP
BAN
BD-TOPO
MOBPRO
MOBETUD
SIRENE
BPE
ENTD
French work
commuting matrix
Synthetic populations: Pipeline
Pipeline
- Households and persons
- Primary activity locations
- Activity chains
- Secondary activity locations
Data
Goal
- Choose work places and education locations
RP
BAN
BD-TOPO
MOBPRO
MOBETUD
SIRENE
BPE
ENTD
French work
commuting matrix
National enterprise
database
with facilities by number of employees
Synthetic populations: Pipeline
Pipeline
- Households and persons
- Primary activity locations
- Activity chains
- Secondary activity locations
Data
Goal
- Choose work places and education locations
RP
BAN
BD-TOPO
MOBPRO
MOBETUD
SIRENE
BPE
ENTD
French education
commuting matrix
Permanent facility
database
with education facilities and attendants
Synthetic populations: Pipeline
Pipeline
- Households and persons
- Primary activity locations
- Activity chains
- Secondary activity locations
Data
Goal
- Generate activity sequences (type, start and end time) for each person
RP
BAN
BD-TOPO
MOBPRO
MOBETUD
SIRENE
BPE
ENTD
Statistical Matching
National Household Travel Survey 2008
(Local Household Travel Surveys)
Synthetic populations: Pipeline
Pipeline
- Households and persons
- Primary activity locations
- Activity chains
- Secondary activity locations
Data
Goals
- Choose locations of secondary (shopping, leisure, ...) activities
RP
BAN
BD-TOPO
MOBPRO
MOBETUD
SIRENE
BPE
ENTD
Hörl, S., Axhausen, K.W., 2021. Relaxation–discretization algorithm for spatially constrained secondary location assignment. Transportmetrica A: Transport Science 1–20.
Synthetic populations: Pipeline
Pipeline
- Households and persons
- Primary activity locations
- Activity chains
- Secondary activity locations
Data
Output
- Three main tables: households, persons, activities
- Supplementary tables: commutes, trips, ...
RP
BAN
BD-TOPO
MOBPRO
MOBETUD
SIRENE
BPE
ENTD
| household_id | income | number_of_cars | ... |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1024 | 85,000 | 2 | ... |
| household_id | person_id | age | sex | employed | ... |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1024 | 1 | 34 | f | true | ... |
| 1024 | 2 | 36 | m | true | ... |
| household_id | person_id | activity_id | start_time | end_time | type | location | ... |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1024 | 1 | 1 | 00:00 | 08:00 | home | (x, y) | ... |
| 1024 | 1 | 2 | 09:00 | 18:00 | work | (x, y) | ... |
| 1024 | 1 | 3 | 19:00 | 24:00 | home | (x, y) | ... |
Synthetic populations: Pipeline
Pipeline
- Households and persons
- Primary activity locations
- Activity chains
- Secondary activity locations
Data
Output
- Three main tables: households, persons, activities
- Supplementary tables: commutes, trips, ...
RP
BAN
BD-TOPO
MOBPRO
MOBETUD
SIRENE
BPE
ENTD
Place of residence
Commuting trips
Hourly work activities
Synthetic populations: Pipeline
Pipeline
- Households and persons
- Primary activity locations
- Activity chains
- Secondary activity locations
Data
RP
BAN
BD-TOPO
MOBPRO
MOBETUD
SIRENE
BPE
ENTD
Validation
- Comparison with census data, HTS data, ...
Synthetic populations: Pipeline
Pipeline
- Households and persons
- Primary activity locations
- Activity chains
- Secondary activity locations
Data
Validation
- Comparison with census data, HTS data, ...
RP
BAN
BD-TOPO
MOBPRO
MOBETUD
SIRENE
BPE
ENTD
Synthetic populations: Pipeline
RP
BAN
BD-TOPO
MOBPRO
MOBETUD
SIRENE
BPE
ENTD
Open data
Open source
+
=
Replicable research in agent-based transport simulation
Synthetic populations: Pipeline
RP
BAN
BD-TOPO
MOBPRO
MOBETUD
SIRENE
BPE
ENTD
Open data
Open source
+
=
Synthetic populations: Community
Lille
Paris
Strasbourg
Lyon
Toulouse
Bordeaux
Nantes
Rennes
Contributors
Users
Synthetic populations: Community
Lille
Paris
Strasbourg
Lyon
Toulouse
Bordeaux
Nantes
Rennes
Annual eqasim workshop
60 participants in December 2025
Monthly exchange
Connection link on Framateam
Discussion on latest developments, projects, ...
eqasim workshop 2026
30 November 2026
Synthetic populations: Community
Lille
Paris
Strasbourg
Lyon
Toulouse
Bordeaux
Nantes
Rennes
Synthetic populations: Community
Lille
Paris
Strasbourg
Lyon
Toulouse
Bordeaux
Nantes
Rennes
Ongoing activities
- Sparsely populated regions
- Household coordination
- Vehicle fleet generation
- Week-long activity schedules
- Modularization !
- Adaptation to energy and health use cases
- ...
Example: an agent-based transport simulation
GTFS
OpenStreetMap
Synthetic demand
+
Driving car
Metro / Train
Work activity starts
Thank you!
sebastian.horl@irt-systemx.fr
Icons throughout the presentation: https://fontawesome.com
Website
Contact
An introduction to eqasim
By Sebastian Hörl
An introduction to eqasim
SAGEO Workshop, 17 November 2026, Toulouse
