NetLogo GIS Examples from backspaces.net

While searching for some NetLogo GIS examples I came across this excellent web page by Owen Densmore from Backspaces.net called "NetLogo Bag of Tricks" showcasing NetLogo's GIS functionality. There is a model of water traffic in Venice model and a simple model that reads census data and extracts features,showing them in different colors (both of which can be downloaded).

If any readers know of any other good NetLogo models using GIS data please leave a comment pointing us in the direction of them.

Agent-based models: Why Use them?

I have just come across a few movies on YouTube by Miles Parker on "Why Agent-Based modeling?". These short movies offer a good introduction to agent-based models. The first part (below) explains why we might be interested into ABM and what they are.

The second movie (below) follows on from the first, looking at a specific application ABM, that of modeling H1N1 and contrasts ABM with a more traditional equation-based approaches to looking at disease transmission.

More movies by Miles on YouTube can be found here, while his blog (meta beta) is here. For more details about his H1N1 agent-based models click here.

Avatars in OpenSim

OpenSim (OpenSimulator) "is a 3D Application Server. It can be used to create a virtual environment (or world) which can be accessed through a variety of clients, on multiple protocols." In a sense its similar to Second Life (SL) but one can host environment on ones own web server (Click here to see some of ourt previous work with SL).

One of the problems with using SL is that one has to own/rent the land in which the environment is created and housed. While with OpenSim one only needs a web server which in a sense is highly appealing for creating permanent environments. Another problem we encountered when using SL was the time it took to execute our agent-based models due to the SL servers. So when I was shown by Chris Rouly this latest test on the ScienceSim Beta Grid by Nebadon Izumi showing 1000 Avatars of mostly bots but some human controlled avatars in real time (as shown below), this got me thinking again about agent-based modeling in virtual worlds.

It would be nice to see Avatars (agents) populating real buildings such as the Ajax FC stadium below. Where the agents are programed to react to changing conditions such as evacuation in times of crisis.

The Ajax FC stadium (Source: KZero Worldswide)

One of our initial tests on using SL for the evacuation of buildings can be seen below. But in our example we only use a maximum of 100 agents but using 1000s of agents with real anthropomorphic dimensions in a 3D space and in real time is highly appealing.

Hurricane Landfall Game

With the hurricane season starting I was looking for models which explored the impacts of hurricanes when they make landfall and came across a game from University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) called "Disaster Dynamics: Hurricane Landfall: an experiential learning game." To quote from the website:

The game..."teaches players about interactions between natural hazards and human decisions in a Gulf Coast barrier island community. It is a strategy and negotiation computer game intended for use in undergraduate classes, and is designed for four players who are connected to one another via the Internet."

More information about the game can be found here: http://www.dd.ucar.edu/

GMU Fiarfax Campus created with CityScape

I have just been exploring the demo version of CityScape from PixelActive and I am quite impressed. CityScape is an urban modeling tool that allows users to build both custom and real-world environments quickly and easily. The focus of the modeler is on allowing developers to concentrate on design rather than the labor involved in creation.

The movie below show my initial attempt of creating a agent-based traffic model around the Fairfax Campus of George Mason University. The model utilizes a real world elevation data downloaded from the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National Map, the road data comes from OpenStreetMap and the building footprints from the Geospatial Data Collection at Mason.

Some readers might find the movie below from an earlier post created in Repast Simphony an interesting comparison. Basically in this model, agents are pedestrians and they choose the shortest route between two buildings.