Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
22
Cellular automata and agent base
models for urban studies: frompixels
to cells to hexa-dpi's
Elisabete A. Silva
The age of digital data collection and analysis is pivotal to land related fields. The contribution of remote sensing
towards the development of one of the most important data structures (raster data structure) and its associated
matrix/pixel structure, impacted diverse scientific fields and allowed for multiple practical applications and use.
Also, the contribution of research in the remote sensing arena towards the development of powerful
algorithm-classifiers that allowed interpretation of the available digital data pointed the direction, among other
things, towards data mining and pattern identification. This chapter explores how such important developments in
remote sensing, together with developments in physics, maths, chemistry, and computer science take center stage in
one of the most important revolutions in the geographical sciences and towards the study of complexity. This
chapter will explore the evolution from pixel-matrix structures towards cell and agent base models, and why we are
facing an important challenge (the integration of spatial and a-spatial data structures and models) that will
ultimately led us towards the integration of multiple approaches. A new data structure and modeling approach is
proposed (the hexa-dpi) and an emphasis is placed on remote sensing by its potential for data collection, processing
and as an integrator of modeling approaches such as CA, ABM and GA.
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