function simStarted(this)
            % Initialize the animation canvas
            
            % Re-initialize runtime work variables for simulation
            this.mEntityGlyphs = containers.Map('keytype', 'char', 'valuetype', 'any');
            this.mEntities = containers.Map('keytype', 'char', 'valuetype', 'any');
            this.mCombineMap = containers.Map('keytype', 'char', 'valuetype', 'char');
            this.mCachePostRun = containers.Map('keytype', 'char', 'valuetype', 'char');
            this.mTableOccupy = zeros(1, size(this.cTablePos,1)) - 1;
            
            % Setup the figure with the restaurant floor as background
            close all;
            im = imread('restaurant.png');
            image(im);
            this.mFig = gcf;
            set(this.mFig, 'Tag', 'Begin');
            this.mAx = gca;
            set(this.mFig, 'toolbar', 'none');
            set(this.mFig, 'menubar', 'none');
            set(this.mAx, 'XTickLabel', '');
            set(this.mAx, 'YTickLabel', '');
            set(this.mAx, 'Box', 'on');
            set(this.mAx, 'TickLength', [0 0]);
            set(this.mAx, 'position', [0 0 1 1]);
            hold on;
            
            % Set up the numeric statistics text labels on the figure
            this.mTxtEntry = text(170,850, '0');
            this.mTxtWaiting = text(10,160, '0');
            this.mTxtExit = text(920,330, '0');
            this.mTxtSelectedEnt = text(50,600,'');
            
            set(this.mTxtEntry, 'Color', [0.8500 0.3250 0.0980], 'FontWeight', 'bold', 'FontSize', 14);
            set(this.mTxtWaiting, 'Color', [0.8500 0.3250 0.0980], 'FontWeight', 'bold', 'FontSize', 14);
            set(this.mTxtExit, 'Color', [0.8500 0.3250 0.0980], 'FontWeight', 'bold', 'FontSize', 14);
            
            this.mLineSelectedEnt = plot(0,0,'.');
            
            % Set up the timer
            this.mTimer = timer(...
                'TimerFcn',      @(t,e)animate(this,t,e), ...
                'ExecutionMode', 'fixedSpacing', ...
                'Period',        this.cTimerPeriod);
            this.mTimerData = containers.Map('keytype', 'char', 'valuetype', 'any');
            this.mTimerRequestStop = false;
            this.mTimerRequestPause = false;
            start(this.mTimer);
        end