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Review of Spatial Simulation Tools for Geographic Information Systems

Authors:
Luís de Sousa
Alberto da Silva

Keywords: Spatial Simulation; Cellular Automata; Agent Based Modelling.

Abstract:
Spatial simulation has been largely absent from traditional Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software packages. Both the advanced skills needed to use this technique and the relative specificity of its application has resulted in a myriad of independent tools, each with different features. The choice of a proper tool for disclosing the dynamics of change in a GIS context is anything but obvious. This work presents a comparative review of different types of tools available for the development of Spatial Dynamics models. These tools are compared along three different vectors: application domain, ease of use by non-programmers (the typical GIS technician) and interoperability with geo-referenced data. Unlike for other disciplines (e.g. systems engineering) a simulation tool for GIS with a wide variety of application domains but accessible to non-programmers seems largely lacking.

Pages: 169 to 174

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2011

Publication date: October 23, 2011

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-4537

ISBN: 978-1-61208-169-4

Location: Barcelona, Spain

Dates: from October 23, 2011 to October 29, 2011