-->PONE-D-25-62891-->-->Quantum-Inspired Pedestrian Mobility Modeling: Applying Probabilistic Spatial Simulation to Urban Walkability and Thermal Comfort in Sri Lanka-->-->PLOS One

Dear Dr. Jayasinghe,

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions-->

-->Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented. -->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Partly

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-->2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? -->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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-->3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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-->4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.-->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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-->5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)-->

Reviewer #1: The topic of quantum inspired modeling of pedestrian mobility is very interesting. However, the quality of the presentation needs great improvement. Here is more detailed comments:

1. In the introduction, Line 92, "To address this need"... To address what needs? The gap is not clear. The authors provide a concise summary of previous pedestrian modelling approach, but, can quantum modelling solve the limitations of previous techniques? Please provide a clearer gap.

2. Yes, the study proposed a novel and appealing approach, but following the previous point, what is the research contribution in comparison with previous methods? Greater accuracy? Or Better explainability? Or others?

3. I found the quality of many figures are very low, with low resolution and too small fonts, please comprehensively improve.

4. Figure 1, what is the use of the 500m buffer?

5. In the data collection, counts of pedestrian is not enough. The spatial location, or even trajectory of pedestrians are also important. Did the study obtain more fine grained feature of the pedestrian?

6. An overall workflow figure of how the modeling and validation were conducted would help with the clarity.

7. Figure 5, the title is confusing, with unrepresented codes, and name of vertical axis (V urbs V Civitas V Total) is not self-explainable.

8. Too litter references. The study should provide a much more comprehensive literature.

Overall, the authors should work much hard to increase the overall theory depth and presentation quality. Otherwise, it is a waste of such an interesting idea.

Reviewer #2: This study introduces a quantum-inspired framework to investigate pedestrian mobility under uncertainty, with particular attention to shade, thermal comfort, and crowding. The idea is interesting; however, in order to meet the standard for publication, the manuscript requires the following revisions.

1. In the Introduction, the concept of “quantum-inspired” is mainly presented at an analogical level, and its essential differences from conventional probabilistic models or random-field–based approaches are not clearly articulated. It is recommended that the authors explicitly clarify the non-substitutable aspects of this approach in terms of modeling assumptions or solution mechanisms.

2. The manuscript treats shade and thermal comfort as key drivers of changes in pedestrian probability distributions. However, the Introduction provides only a limited review of existing studies on pedestrian thermal comfort, heat exposure, or microclimate effects on route choice, making it unclear how the present study advances this line of research. Additional relevant literature review is recommended.

3. Spatial and temporal discretization scales play a decisive role in shaping the resulting probability field. In the Methods section, the choice of a 5 m × 5 m grid and a 15-minute temporal resolution lacks empirical justification or sensitivity analysis. It is recommended to provide clearer justification and relevant literature support for these parameter settings.

4. The model treats variables such as building height, building density, and shade intensity as relatively independent inputs. In practice, these variables are often highly correlated and partially causally coupled. Screening by simple correlation coefficients alone may be insufficient to address structural multicollinearity. A more systematic treatment of variable interdependence is recommended, together with a clearer explanation of which variables are used as proxies.

5. Model performance is mainly evaluated using Pearson’s r, Spearman’s ρ, and Moran’s I. However, confidence intervals, significance testing, or stability analysis across different days or time periods are not reported, which may lead to an overestimation of model performance. It is recommended to include uncertainty quantification and report plausible ranges of performance variation.

6. The reported Moran’s I values require cautious interpretation. The model explicitly incorporates spatial regularization and smoothing procedures, which may themselves enhance spatial autocorrelation. Under the current design, it is difficult to distinguish whether the predicted spatial clustering arises from pedestrian behavior or from the model structure. Comparative analyses that weaken or remove smoothing terms are recommended, or alternatively, the role of Moran’s I as evidence of behavioral realism should be interpreted more conservatively.

7. Although several limitations are acknowledged, the Conclusion still places strong emphasis on the advantages of the proposed method. Potential conditions under which the model may perform poorly—such as application to other cities, different climatic contexts, or more complex traffic environments—are not sufficiently discussed. It is recommended to more clearly delineate the scope and applicability boundaries of the model.

8. The Conclusion repeatedly aligns the study with the journal’s mission, but the linkage to specific empirical results is not always explicit. It is recommended to reduce submission-oriented statements and instead allow concrete quantitative findings and methodological characteristics to naturally address the journal’s thematic focus.

9. In Section 5, the term “Applied Geography” is capitalized. Please clarify why capitalization is used here.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Quantum-Inspired Pedestrian Mobility Modeling: Applying Probabilistic Spatial Simulation to Urban Walkability and Thermal Comfort in Sri Lanka

PONE-D-25-62891R1

Dear Dr. Jayasinghe,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Genyu Xu, Ph.D.

Academic Editor

PLOS One

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

-->Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.-->

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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-->2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented. -->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

-->3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? -->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

-->4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.-->

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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-->5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.-->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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-->6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)-->

Reviewer #1: The authors have sufficiently addressed my comments and I agree that the paper can now be published.

Reviewer #2: All of my previous comments have been adequately addressed in the revised version, and no major concerns remain at this stage.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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