Thursday, April 17, 2008

Geographically Explicit Agents

A quick post for anyone interested following on from a presentation that I gave Association of American Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting in Boston entitled “Using geographically explicit agents to explain and explore urban phenomena” given in the Agent Based Modeling II session

The Abstract of the talk was as follows:

"Agent-based modelling is at the forefront of computer modelling research focusing on the individual or groups of individuals, and how these individuals interact to form emergent structures. In particular, the ABM paradigm is becoming an increasingly used technique to study cities and regions. However, this new paradigm poses many challenges with regard to modelling. These include but are not limited to: the purpose for which the model is built, the extent to which the model is rooted in independent theory, the extent to which the model can be replicated, the way the model might be verified, calibrated and validated, the way model dynamics are represented in terms of agent interactions, the extent to which the model is operational, and the way the model can be communicated and shared with others. 

This paper will explore how we are addressing these issues with illustrated examples (applications) specifically focusing on residential segregation dimensioned upon London, which the author has developed and is currently developing. Furthermore, the models address other major problems with respect to agent-based modelling specifically integrating GIS within such models via a loose coupling approach. This integration of spatial data adds extra levels of complexity when studying urban phenomena, specifically that of segregation within agent-based models which is hardly touched upon in the literature. Furthermore, this integration allows the models to be grounded in actual places where geometrical features restrict agent interactions and how such places change over time. The paper will conclude with highlighting future avenues of research."
 
The presentation can be downloaded from here and a new working paper entitled “Constructing and Implementing an Agent-Based Model of Residential Segregation through Vector GIS” which slightly mirrors the talk can be found here. The full reference for this paper is:
Crooks, A. T. (2008), Constructing and Implementing an Agent-Based Model of Residential Segregation through Vector GIS, Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (University College London), Working Paper 133, London.

While the presentation focuses mainly on the second half of the abstract due to time constraints, further information about the challenges agent-based modelling poses with regard to modelling can be found in the following working paper:
Crooks, A. T., Castle, C. J .E. and Batty, M. (2007), Key Challenges in Agent-Based Modelling for Geo-Spatial Simulation, Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (University College London), Working Paper 121, London.

As always any thoughts or comments about the work or presentation are more than welcome.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Thank you very much,Andrew!Thanks for the introducts!
I am a new learner who wanna to use ABM technology to simulate landuse.I will read the blogs.
Thx again!