Spatio temporal modeling and simulations in GIS – The Principles Tomáš Hlásny, Forest Research Institute Zvolen SLOVAKIA

“In reality any system is infinitely complex and we can only analyse some system after we abstracted from the real system“. Harvey D., 1969: Explanation in geography, London: Edward Arnold, 521 p.

Terminology A Model Modelling and simulation Computer simulation

Basic Principles Projection Abstraction, discretisation, tessellation Uncertainty – natural consequence of modelling (Foody and Atkinson 2002, eds., Zhu 1997, Brown 1998, Agumya and Hunter 1999).

Linking spatial and temporal modelling capabilities TimeGIS –defined principles, terminology and data structures for storing and analysing spatio-temporal data Spatio-temporal Geostatistics – goes much deeper in analytical techniques and philosophical issues

TimeGIS The area developed recently to specify the philosophy, terminology and data structures for storing spatio-temporal information Chronon Granularity of time Temporal reference frame Snapshot model, Temporal Map Set Model, Spatio Temporal Object Model, Event Based Spatial Temporal Data Model, etc.

Snapshot model

Modern spatio-temporal geostatistics Derives from the classical geostatistics but differs in the following aspects Full integration of spatial and temporal dimensions The shift from inductive framework to ontological and epistemic status of stochastic analysis

Spatio-Temporal Random Fields The R n x T spatio-temporal continuum as reference frame is considered Field concept The Complementarity Idea

Conclusion Missing integrated environment for complex spatio-temporal analyses “Artificial” integration of statistical Time Series Analyses technique into existing GIS environments Recent development of new branches of spatial science integrating effectively spatial and temporal dimensions