Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Agent-Based Model Simulations for Sustainable Development

Authored by J. Daniel Rogers, Claudio Cioffi-Revilla, Atesmachew Hailegiorgis

Date Published: 2012

DOI: 10.1145/2036264.2036274

Sponsors: United States Office of Naval Research (ONR) United States National Science Foundation (NSF)

Platforms: MASON

Model Documentation: UML Other Narrative

Model Code URLs: Model code not found

Abstract

In recent years the interdisciplinary field of Computational Social Science has developed theory and methodologies for building spatial Agent-Based Social Simulation (ABSS) models of human societies that are situated in ecosystems with land cover and climate. This article explains the needs and demand for Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in these types of agent-based models, with an emphasis on models applied to Eastern Africa and Inner Asia and relevance for understanding and analyzing development issues. The models are implemented with the MASON (Multi-Agent Simulator Of Networks and Neighborhoods) system, an open-source simulation environment in the Java language and suitable for developing ABSS models with GIS for representing spatial features.

Tags

Design Theory Computational Social Science Inner Asia Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Eastern Africa Experimentation Multi-agent Simulator of Networks and Neighborhoods (MASON) Multi-agent Systems (MAS) Spatial Agent-based Modeling (ABM)