Distance perception between pedestrians and vehicles is one of the most important factors in interaction studies, as it directly leads to pedestrians’ reaction rates against oncoming traffic vehicles at crosswalks, or broadly attempting to avoid collision. Such perception is not only a physical measure, but also involves aspects related to cognition and view. We considered two main modeling approaches for this perception: one is an ecological approach given by Gibson, which evolves the work of Ibn al-Haytham on visual perception, and Haversine’s formula used in calculating distance on a spherical surface. We used these two methods to model the way in which pedestrians perceive moving vehicles, there by influencing their behavior. We adopted the Social Forces model for pedestrians and the Nagel-Schreckenberg model for vehicles to run simulations in in QGIS (Quantum Geographic Information System), an open-source platform for spatial analysis. Then, we have visualized the results using scatter diagrams, which highlight the differences between the two calculation approaches. Statistical tests confirm these differences and show that Gibson’s formula is able to perceive distances between pedestrians and vehicles more accurately, particularly at distances of less than 5 m.