Computational Human Geography

Abstract

Computational human geography refers to the use of computational methods and techniques to solve problems in human geography research and applications. Geographic information systems (GIS) and science are a big part of computational human geography but the notion is considerably broader, encompassing spatial process modeling and simulation, the modeling of spatial decision and behavior, visualization techniques, most aspects of spatial analysis, and an increasing number of other areas. Computation in human geography goes back to the beginnings of the quantitative revolution and is philosophically related though methodologically distinct from it. Two major thrusts have persisted through the years: the use of numerical techniques to solve large, complex quantitative problems; and the development of models of complex spatial processes expressed directly in computational terms. Typical exponents of the latter kinds of applications are cellular automata models of urban and environmental processes, and agent-based models of spatial decision and behavior. More recent developments involve applications of mobile and portable computing. Critiques of computational human geography originate from both within the field and from the humanistic and social theory perspectives. The former address a number of epistemological and methodological problems while the latter tend to focus on issues of ontology and representation.