Some interesting applications of complex networks arise from traffic patterns. Road or human traffic can be modelled as a network of microscopic agents, and the emergent collective patterns and behaviours can be studied either as individual cases or as statistical basins of attraction.
Some applications include:
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Interesting congested road traffic patterns arise at regular junctions or roundabouts. Models can be studied "in the small" as shown here, or "in the large" as networks with emergent statistical properties. See:
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Human traffic can be studied in particular network settings such as this graph model showing a medium sized lecture theatre. Microscopic agent simulation models can be run in various scenarios to identify particular properties such as bottlenecks for resource planning or emergency response behaviour prediction. Other systems such as the overlay networks that are formed from computational grids of online services can also be modelled in this way. See:
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