Geographical Modeling

Geographical Modeling

by Denise Pumain
Released April 2020
Publisher(s): Wiley-ISTE
ISBN: 9781786304902

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Book description


The modeling of cities and territories has progressed greatly in the last 20 years. This is firstly due to geographic information systems, followed by the availability of large amounts of georeferenced data – both on the Internet and through the use of connected objects. In addition, the rise in performance of computational methods for the simulation and exploration of dynamic models has facilitated advancement. Geographical Modeling presents previously unpublished information on the main advances achieved by these new approaches. Each of the six chapters builds a bibliographic review and precisely describes the methods used, highlighting their advantages and discussing their interpretations. They are all illustrated by many examples. The book also explains with clarity the theoretical foundations of geographical analysis, the delicate operations of model selection, and the applications of fractals and scaling laws. These applications include gaining knowledge of the morphology of cities and the organization of urban transport, and finding new methods of building and exploring simulation models and visualizations of data and results.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Introduction
  3. 1 Complexity in Geography
    1. 1.1. A first bifurcation in the epistemology of geographic modeling
    2. 1.2. Modeled regularities
    3. 1.3. Conclusion
  4. 2 Choosing Models to Explain the Dynamics of Cities and Territories
    1. 2.1. Introduction
    2. 2.2. Explaining by reasons or laws: choosing an epistemological framework
    3. 2.3. The modeling approach: diversity of models
    4. 2.4. Explaining through statistical relationships or mechanisms
    5. 2.5. Choosing the level of abstraction for the phenomenon to be explained: general versus particular
    6. 2.6. Choosing the level of abstraction for the model: stylized or realistic, KISS or KIDS
    7. 2.7. Conclusion
  5. 3 Effects of Distance and Scale Dependence in Geographical Models of Cities and Territories
    1. 3.1. Three fundamental principles for modeling cities and territories
    2. 3.2. Role of distance in spatial simulation models
    3. 3.3. Modeling scale dependence
    4. 3.4. Conclusion
  6. 4 Incremental Territorial Modeling
    1. 4.1. The map and the territory
    2. 4.2. Generality and specificity: explaining by ways of geographical models
    3. 4.3. Incremental territorial modeling
    4. 4.4. Challenges and limits of multi-modeling
    5. 4.5. Conclusion
  7. 5 Methods for Exploring Simulation Models
    1. 5.1. Social sciences and experimentation
    2. 5.2. Geographical data and computer skills
    3. 5.3. New generation simulations
    4. 5.4. Other examples of OpenMOLE applications: network–territory interaction models
    5. 5.5. Perspectives
    6. 5.6. Conclusion
  8. 6 Model Visualization
    1. 6.1. Introduction
    2. 6.2. Visualization as modeling
    3. 6.3. Visualize to evaluate
    4. 6.4. Visualizing to compare
    5. 6.5. Visualizing to communicate
    6. 6.6. Some obstacles inherent in model visualization
    7. 6.7. Conclusion
  9. References
  10. List of Authors
  11. Index
  12. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: Geographical Modeling
  • Author(s): Denise Pumain
  • Release date: April 2020
  • Publisher(s): Wiley-ISTE
  • ISBN: 9781786304902