  Although route and exit choice in complex buildings are important aspects of
pedestrian behaviour, studies predominantly investigated pedestrian movement in
a single level. This paper presents an innovative VR tool that was designed to
investigate pedestrian route and exit choice in a multi-story building. This
tool supports free navigation and collects pedestrian walking trajectories,
head movements and gaze points automatically. An experiment was conducted to
evaluate the VR tool from objective standpoints (i.e., pedestrian behaviour)
and subjective standpoints (i.e., the feeling of presence, system usability,
simulation sickness). The results show that the VR tool allows for accurate
collection of pedestrian behavioural data in the complex building. Moreover,
the results of the questionnaire report high realism of the virtual
environment, high immersive feeling, high usability, and low simulator
sickness. This paper contributes by showcasing an innovative approach of
applying VR technologies to study pedestrian behaviour in complex and realistic
environments.
