Authors: J Gary Polhill Nicholas M Gotts
Publish Date: 2009/06/26
Volume: 24, Issue: 9, Pages: 1255-
Abstract
We propose an approach to modular agentbased land use modelling based on ontologies in their computer science sense formal representations of conceptualisations The approach is primarily aimed at addressing the issue of model transparency Humannatural systems models involve large numbers of submodels making them difficult to understand for those not involved in their construction We show that using ontologies to represent the structure and state of a simulation model improves transparency in two ways First the information about the structure and state is decoupled from the simulation software and can be independently processed Second the logics on which ontologies are based reflect more commonsense understandings of the relationships among concepts than those of computer programming languagesWe gratefully acknowledge funding from the Scottish Government Rural and Environmental Research and Analysis Directorate the UK Economic and Social Research Council ESRC under the eSocial Science programme grant reference RES149251027 PolicyGrid and the EU Framework Programme 6 New and Emerging Science and Technology Pathfinder Initiative on Tackling Complexity in Science project 12186 CAVES CAVES is endorsed by the Global Land Project
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