Thursday, December 08, 2022

Simulating Geographical Systems using CA and ABMs

 
In the chapter we discuss how thinking and studying of geographical systems like cities has changed over time from top down aggregate analysis to more bottom up approaches which captures the complex nature of such systems. We then discuss how we can model such systems from a cellular automata and agent-based perspectives. and how these styles of models have evolved and how they can be used to model future systems. If this sounds of interest below we provide the abstract to the chapter, some of the figures that accompany it and at the  bottom of the page we provide the full reference to the paper along with a link to the chapter itself.
"Abstract: How we view and understand the processes driving and shaping geographical systems is constantly evolving. This is due to the appearance of new rich data sources, increased computing power and storage, and the development of individual-level approaches. This allows us to explore geographical systems (from the bottom up) at scales not possible in the past. In this chapter, we examine the utility of two of the most commonly used individual-level modelling approaches, cellular automata and agent-based modelling. We outline their key differences and how these models are being used to further our understanding of geographical systems through simulation. We conclude with a discussion about the challenges that both approaches need to meet to continue developing into the future.
Keywords: Cellular automata; Agent-based models; Geographical systems; Machine learning
 

A SLEUTH like model stylized on Santa Fe, New Mexico denoting how land use charges over time from undeveloped (grey) to urban (red).

Example applications of agent-based models at different spatial and temporal scales

Full reference:

Heppenstall, A., Crooks, A.T., Manley, E. and Malleson, N. (2022) Simulating Geographical Systems using Cellular Automata and Agent-based Models, in Rey S. and Franklin, R. (eds.), Handbook of Spatial Analysis in the Social Sciences, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK, pp. 142-157. (pdf)

No comments: