11.522: UIS Research Seminar (Fall 2007) - Discussion notes

Tuesday, November 20, 2007, 5:00 - 7:00 PM

Making GIS tools available to agent-based modelers: past achievements, current options and future prospects

Discussion Leader: Beaudry Kock

In my presentation I would like to explore concepts of and issues associated with cross-platform data and functionality sharing between geographic information systems and agent-based models written in Java. I will approach the presentation from the perspective of an agent-based modeler seeking to make use of GIS tools. As agent-based tools become more mainstream in the field of environmental and socioeconomic modeling and simulation, there is a growing diversity of agent-based modeling platforms. Most of these platforms provide a user interface for creating, enhancing and manipulating agents as discrete objects. Many platforms also provide basic dynamic animation capabilities, where agents can be instantiated as shapes on a spatial grid. None of the platforms, whether propietary or open-source, provide for robust integration with GIS databases (beyond the use of JDBC driver classes) or proprietary/open-source GIS tools. This is not to say numerous attempts have not been made, and some of these are reviewed in the suggested readings. These attempts have ranged from the development of complex packages that provide GIS functionality within open-source ABM platforms (SWARM and GRASS); to the more straight-forward development of ABM access to GIS databases and reconstruction of rasters in the ABM using native animation tools. The intent of this presentation is twofold:

  1. Provide an overview of the current state of GIS/ABM integration, including some treatment of integration theory outlined in the readings;
  2. Explore current solutions to the problem of integrating GIS functionality with an agent-based modeling application
  3. Discuss the prospects for, and challenges to, developing high level integration tools that can address the unique needs of the emerging science of agent-based modeling.

 

Background reading

To provide some background and discussion points, the following papers are suggested reading. Read all of papers 1 and 5. Skim paper 2 and 3, and read the following sections from Paper 4:  Section 1.3.3.1: exploration of the representation of space in ABMs; Section 1.3.3.2: integration of RePast with GIS.

  1. Brown, D. G., Riolo, R., Robinson, D. T., North, M., Rand, W. (2005). Spatial process and data models: Toward integration of agent-based models and GIS. Journal of Geographical Systems, 7, 1: 25-4: www.springerlink.com/index/K5L25720261783M3.pdf
  2. Duke-Sylvester, S. M., Gross, L. J. (XXXX). Integrating Spatial Data into an Agent-based Modeling System: Ideas and lessons from the development of the Across Trophic Level Simulation (ATLSS): http://ecology.tiem.utk.edu/~sylv/HTML/Everglades/landscape-paper.ps
  3. Crooks, A. T., 2006. Exploring Cities Using Agent-Based Models and GIS. Center for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London, Working Paper 109: http://www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/working_papers/paper109.pdf
  4. Crooks, A . T., 2007. The Repast Simulation/Modelling System for Geospatial Simulation. Center for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London, Working Paper 123: http://www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/working_papers/paper123.pdf
  5. Parker, D. C. 2005. Integration of Geographic Information Systems and Agent-Based Models of Land Use: Challenges and Prospects. Pages 403-422 in D. J. Maguire, M. F. Goodchild, and M. Batty, eds. GIS, Spatial Analysis and Modeling. ESRI Press, Redlands, CA. Uncorrected proof at: http://mason.gmu.edu/~dparker3/papers/chapter_19.pdf

 

Questions to think about

Some points of discussion that might be worth exploring include:

  1. Are the benefits of integrating agent-based models with a GIS application universal, or are the benefits more context-specific?
  2. What performance constraints is the integration likely to generate?
  3. Why has progress towards robust, transferable integration tools been so slow?
  4. Where is the GIS data model headed, given the increasing emphasis on web services and object-oriented design, and the growing need for bridging GIS with other diverse modeling platforms?

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