Geospatial Simulations Research Articles

GeoSim 2022 Workshop Report: The 5th ACM SIGSPATIAL International Workshop on Geospatial Simulation

Geospatial simulation is an effective tool to experience physical and/or cyber space (e.g., metaverse). New experiences gained from geospatial simulations can bring significant benefits including situation awareness, insight into environments, and entertainment. To take advantage of such simulations, it is crucial to advance methodology of modeling and simulation, develop plausible models and apply them to domains, leveraging big data and evolving technologies.

GeoSim 2021 Workshop Report: The 4th ACM SIGSPATIAL International Workshop on Geospatial Simulation

Geospatial simulation is an effective tool to experience physical and/or cyber space (e.g., metaverse). New experiences gained from geospatial simulations can bring significant benefits including situation awareness, insight into environments, and entertainment. To take advantage of such simulations, it is crucial to advance methodology of modeling and simulation, develop plausible models and apply them to domains, leveraging big data and evolving technologies.

Detection of desirable areas for urban growth through GIS and OWA: the case of Culiacan and Navolato

Due to an accelerated growth of artificial surfaces, an increasing interest in the changes on land use has been detected in the last decade, making it necessary to propose models able to create plans of optimal and sustainable development. The goal of this work is to identify the potentially most suitable spaces for urban growth, through geospatial simulations which integrate the Geographic Information Systems and OWA (Ordered Weighted Average). We propose a sensitivity analysis methodology to the results in order to assess their robustness with respect to the input values’ weights variability, based on histograms and distances classification. Finally, the selection proposal shows a considerable percentage according to the planned area.

Geospatial simulations of airborne ice-penetrating radar surveying reveal elevation under-measurement bias for ice-sheet bed topography

AbstractAirborne radio-echo sounding (RES) surveys are widely used to measure ice-sheet bed topography. Measuring bed topography as accurately and widely as possible is of critical importance to modelling ice dynamics and hence to constraining better future ice response to climate change. Measurement accuracy of RES surveys is influenced both by the geometry of bed topography and the survey design. Here we develop a novel approach for simulating RES surveys over glaciated terrain, to quantify the sensitivity of derived bed elevation to topographic geometry. Furthermore, we investigate how measurement errors influence the quantification of glacial valley geometry. We find a negative bias across RES measurements, where off-nadir return measurement error is typically −1.8 ± 11.6 m. Topographic highlands are under-measured an order of magnitude more than lowlands. Consequently, valley depth and cross-sectional area are largely under-estimated. While overall estimates of ice thickness are likely too high, we find large glacier valley cross-sectional area to be under-estimated by −2.8 ± 18.1%. Therefore, estimates of ice flux through large outlet glaciers are likely too low when this effect is not taken into account. Additionally, bed mismeasurements potentially impact our appreciation of outlet-glacier stability.

Making It Spatial Makes It Personal: Engaging Stakeholders with Geospatial Participatory Modeling

Participatory research methods are increasingly used to collectively understand complex social-environmental problems and to design solutions through diverse and inclusive stakeholder engagement. But participatory research rarely engages stakeholders to co-develop and co-interpret models that conceptualize and quantify system dynamics for comparing scenarios of alternate action. Even fewer participatory projects have engaged people using geospatial simulations of dynamic landscape processes and spatially explicit planning scenarios. We contend that geospatial participatory modeling (GPM) can confer multiple benefits over non-spatial approaches for participatory research processes, by (a) personalizing connections to problems and their solutions through visualizations of place, (b) resolving abstract notions of landscape connectivity, and (c) clarifying the spatial scales of drivers, data, and decision-making authority. We illustrate through a case study how GPM is bringing stakeholders together to balance population growth and conservation in a coastal region facing dramatic landscape change due to urbanization and sea level rise. We find that an adaptive, iterative process of model development, sharing, and revision drive innovation of methods and ultimately improve the realism of land change models. This co-production of knowledge enables all participants to fully understand problems, evaluate the acceptability of trade-offs, and build buy-in for management actions in the places where they live and work.

Tangible topographic modeling for landscape architects

We present Tangible Landscape—a technology for rapidly and intuitively designing landscapes informed by geospatial modeling, analysis, and simulation. It is a tangible interface powered by a geographic information system that gives three-dimensional spatial data an interactive, physical form so that users can naturally sense and shape it. Tangible Landscape couples a physical and a digital model of a landscape through a real-time cycle of physical manipulation, three-dimensional scanning, spatial computation, and projected feedback. Natural three-dimensional sketching and real-time analytical feedback should aid landscape architects in the design of high performance landscapes that account for physical and ecological processes. We conducted a series of studies to assess the effectiveness of tangible modeling for landscape architects. Landscape architecture students, academics, and professionals were given a series of fundamental landscape design tasks—topographic modeling, cut-and-fill analysis, and water flow modeling. We assessed their performance using qualitative and quantitative methods including interviews, raster statistics, morphometric analyses, and geospatial simulation. With tangible modeling, participants built more accurate models that better represented morphological features than they did with either digital or analog hand modeling. When tangibly modeling, they worked in a rapid, iterative process informed by real-time geospatial analytics and simulations. With the aid of real-time simulations, they were able to quickly understand and then manipulate how complex topography controls the flow of water.

КОНЦЕПТУАЛЬНА СХЕМА СИСТЕМИ МОДЕЛЮВАННЯ ТАКТИЧНОЇ ОБСТАНОВКИ НА БАЗІ ГЕОІНФОРМАЦІЙНОЇ СИСТЕМИ

The analysis of the directions of geoinformation systems use in the military sphere indicates the need to develop domestic simulation systems for combat operations simulation and the creation of a system for a tactical military situation simulation using geoinformation systems for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The article proposes a conceptual scheme of a system of simulation of a tactical situation on the basis of GIS technologies, which is proposed to be used for planning intelligence and special operations, the definition of objectives, the analysis of terrain and the mutual visibility of opposite sides, management of combat. Keywords: combat simulation system, geoinformation system, geospatial simulations.

Validation techniques of agent based modelling for geospatial simulations

Abstract. One of the most interesting aspects of modelling and simulation study is to describe the real world phenomena that have specific properties; especially those that are in large scales and have dynamic and complex behaviours. Studying these phenomena in the laboratory is costly and in most cases it is impossible. Therefore, Miniaturization of world phenomena in the framework of a model in order to simulate the real phenomena is a reasonable and scientific approach to understand the world. Agent-based modelling and simulation (ABMS) is a new modelling method comprising of multiple interacting agent. They have been used in the different areas; for instance, geographic information system (GIS), biology, economics, social science and computer science. The emergence of ABM toolkits in GIS software libraries (e.g. ESRI’s ArcGIS, OpenMap, GeoTools, etc) for geospatial modelling is an indication of the growing interest of users to use of special capabilities of ABMS. Since ABMS is inherently similar to human cognition, therefore it could be built easily and applicable to wide range applications than a traditional simulation. But a key challenge about ABMS is difficulty in their validation and verification. Because of frequent emergence patterns, strong dynamics in the system and the complex nature of ABMS, it is hard to validate and verify ABMS by conventional validation methods. Therefore, attempt to find appropriate validation techniques for ABM seems to be necessary. In this paper, after reviewing on Principles and Concepts of ABM for and its applications, the validation techniques and challenges of ABM validation are discussed.

Predicting Soil Compaction Risks Related to Field Traffic during Silage Maize Harvest

Reducing the traffic intensity and the mitigation of unnecessary traffic especially with heavy vehicles and high ground contact stress are basic requirements for preventing harmful soil compaction. This study focuses on quantifying traffic intensity and evaluating soil compaction risks during silage maize (Zea mays L.) harvest. Based on GPS data recorded by farm vehicles used on two study fields, wheel track patterns and the corresponding contact stresses have been modeled, using empirical approaches. Modeling the wheel track patterns considers the vehicle characteristics (e. g., axle width, tire type and size, and machine weight), and the changes in wheel load and contact stress during loading. The modeling results reveal that up to 62.8% of the field area had been trafficked during a single harvest. Between 16.4 and 26.8% of the field had been subjected to contact stresses exceeding 100 kPa. The actual vehicle-induced stresses calculated for the wheel track patterns were applied to model the stress distribution inside of the soil according to a method described by Horn and Fleige. The susceptibility of wheeled soil horizons to soil compaction was derived from a ratio between precompression stress and soil stress, which provides a useful measure of effective soil strength. Based on three scenarios, this article discusses how geospatial simulations might contribute to soil sustainability through an improved management of field traffic. Simulation results suggest that the risk of plastic subsoil deformation might be reduced from about 70% (related to the wheel track area) at water saturation to < 5% at a matric potential of pF 2.5.

Integrated High-Fidelity Geoscience Simulations for Enhanced Terrain-Related Target Detection

A loosely coupled suite of physics-based geotechnical, geospatial, hydrogeologic, and thermal simulations are integrated into a virtual testing facility aimed at resolving terrain-related warfighter problems. This article describes the key aspects of the research conducted by the US Institute for Maneuverability and Terrain Physics Simulation and provides two examples of the virtual testing facility applied to subsurface threat detection.