Intelligent gis and retail location dynamics: A multi agent system integrated with ArcGis

Abstract

The main step towards building "intelligent" Gis is to connect them with spatial simulation models. Multi Agent Systems (Mas) allow to represent, through a computer code, the behaviour of entities operating in a given environment and the system dynamics that derive from the interactions of such agents. We integrated (through the VBA programming language) a Mas into a Gis, where, through a friendly interface, it is possible, during the simulation, to modify the model by adding individual behavioural rules and/or new typologies of agents. In our urban Mas, two typologies of agents are defined: retail users and retail entrepreneurs, interacting according to a spatial demand-supply matching mechanism. We describe a prototypal application of a model whose aim is simulating, in an urban system, the dynamics of retailing location. © Springer-Verlag 2004.