Evolutionary models (e.g., genetic algorithms, artificial life), explored in other fields for the past two decades, are now emerging as an important new tool in GIS for a number of reasons. First, they are highly appropriate for modeling geographic phenomena. Secondly, geographical problems are often spatially separate (broken down into local or regional problems) and evolutionary algorithms can exploit this structure. Finally, the ability to store, manipulate, and visualize spatial data has increased to the point that space-time-attribute databases can be easily handled.
This book provides a foundation for modern applied ecology. Much of current ecology research and conservation addresses problems across landscapes and regions, focusing on spatial patterns and processes. This book is aimed at teaching fundamental concepts and focuses on learning-by-doing through the use of examples with the software R. It is intended to provide an entry-level, easily accessible foundation for students and practitioners interested in spatial ecology and conservation.
"This book focuses on the IT field from the outlook of industry professionals and covers multidisciplinary themes such as human resource management, sociology, psychology, and management along with technology itself. It links theory with application or critically analyzing cases with the objective of identifying good practice in the management of IT human capital"--
This book presents groundbreaking robotic experiments on how and why spatial language evolves. It provides detailed explanations of the origins of spatial conceptualization strategies, spatial categories, landmark systems and spatial grammar by tracing the interplay of environmental conditions, communicative and cognitive pressures. The experiments discussed in this book go far beyond previous approaches in grounded language evolution. For the first time, agents can evolve not only particular lexical systems but also evolve complex conceptualization strategies underlying the emergence of category systems and compositional semantics. Moreover, many issues in cognitive science, ranging from perception and conceptualization to language processing, had to be dealt with to instantiate these experiments, so that this book contributes not only to the study of language evolution but to the investigation of the cognitive bases of spatial language as well.
Haynes and Fotheringham provide a comprehensive introduction to the four basic forms of gravity models. Gravity and spatial interaction -- extensively applied in forecasting -- has provided a major contribution to social science literature. The authors trace the different applications of the gravity model to market area analysis including: determining the boundaries of market areas, determining the demand for goods or services, and examining problems of operating the retail model. Six fully-developed, real-life examples of the use of these models are presented: planning a new service, defining retail shopping boundaries, forecasting migration and voting patterns, examining university enrollment by area, determining the optimal size of a shopping complex, and locating a facility to maximize custom. The discussion is kept at an elementary mathematical level and is aimed primarily at those unacquainted with the finer workings of gravity and spatial interaction models.
Spatial Modeling in GIS and R for Earth and Environmental Sciences offers an integrated approach to spatial modelling using both GIS and R. Given the importance of Geographical Information Systems and geostatistics across a variety of applications in Earth and Environmental Science, a clear link between GIS and open source software is essential for the study of spatial objects or phenomena that occur in the real world and facilitate problem-solving. Organized into clear sections on applications and using case studies, the book helps researchers to more quickly understand GIS data and formulate more complex conclusions. The book is the first reference to provide methods and applications for combining the use of R and GIS in modeling spatial processes. It is an essential tool for students and researchers in earth and environmental science, especially those looking to better utilize GIS and spatial modeling. - Offers a clear, interdisciplinary guide to serve researchers in a variety of fields, including hazards, land surveying, remote sensing, cartography, geophysics, geology, natural resources, environment and geography - Provides an overview, methods and case studies for each application - Expresses concepts and methods at an appropriate level for both students and new users to learn by example
A crucial question in contemporary economics concerns where economic activities will locate and relocate themselves in the future. This comprehensive, innovative book applies an evolutionary framework to spatial economics, arguing against the prevailing neoclassical equilibrium model, providing important concrete and theoretical insights, and illuminating areas of future enquiry.
This text reflects the interdisciplinary nature of GIS research and includes coverage of such themes as: virtual GIS; spatial analysis; artificial intelligence; spatial agents and fuzzy systems; and space-time GIS and GIS applications.
