SPATIAL EVOLUTIONARY MODELING

Evolutionary models (e.g., genetic algorithms, artificiallife), explored in other fields for the past two decades,are now emerging as an important new tool in GIS for anumber of reasons. First, they are highly appropriate formodeling geographic phenomena. Secondly, geographicalproblems are often spatially separate (broken down intolocal or regional problems) and evolutionary algorithms canexploit this structure. Finally, the ability to store,manipulate, and visualize spatial data has increased to thepoint that space-time-attribute databases can be easilyhandled.