Abstract: A novel approach to automata-based modeling for spatial systems is described: geographic automata and Geographic Automata Systems. We detail a framework that takes advantage of the formalism of automata theory and GI Science to unite cellular automata and multi-agent systems techniques, and provides a spatial approach to bottom-up modeling of complex geographic systems that are comprised of infrastructure and human objects. The suitability of the framework is also discussed with reference to existing cellular automata and multi-agent systems models used in urban studies. Practical implementation of the framework is illustrated with reference to an object-based urban simulation environment and implementation of a popular socio-spatial segregation model.

Automata have the capacity to process information from their surroundings and to alter their characteristics accordingly. They are flexible and efficient abstractions that enable the construction of detailed, complex, dynamic models. The weakness of the CA approach is the inability […] in dealing with mobile objects such as pedestrians, migrating households, or relocating firms.

Abstract: The concept of Geographic Automata System (GAS) formalizes an object-based view of city structure and functioning; OBEUS software implements this view on the operational level. The paper presents the GAS paradigm and latest user-friendly version of OBEUS, the latter based on .NET technology and developed according to OODBMS logic. OBEUS boosts further development of GAS theory, especially regarding the treatment of time in models describing collectives of multiple interacting autonomous urban objects. We claim that all high-resolution urban Cellular Automata and Multi-Agent models of which we are aware can be described in GAS terms and represented as OBEUS applications. GAS and OBEUS can thus serve as a universal, transferable framework for object-based urban simulation.