Way system vs. action area

Under the "way systems" tab in the editor there's also a heading for "action areas". I understand what way systems are, but what are action areas? Is there a difference between the two?

Action areas are sections you can draw in & can be used to determine if the game engine should perform some actions if the specified character walks into or out of the action area.

I see, so it's sort of like a trigger?

That's correct. They are mostly used for changing footstep walking sound type, or for triggering specific events, or for changing between way systems if you needed to split the scene up into multiple way systems for some reason or other, etc.