SD vs GIS

[Lee Jones]

Daniel

This may or may not be useful. Landair have developed a seamless link
between the GIS package MapInfo (through the development of an OCX
created with the use of the MapX application, also from MapInfo) and
Vensim. Although this is not commercially available as a product (at
this time), we are able to develop bespoke model/map solutions for our
clients. =20

Our Vensim front end generator, VEGA, is also OCX enabled, in that a =
GIS
solution can be embedded within the VEGA developed GUI. We have =
created
an external function library for Vensim which allows data in the GIS to
be read by the Vensim model, and for Vensim generated results to be
accessible from the GIS. We have created >15 models with this
capability, mostly for the UK military.

Finally, we are developing a generic toolset to allow those with little
GIS expertise (like myself!) to select from a list of tools and create
their own GIS application, albeit, quite a simple one. As the generic
toolset grows, so will the functionality.

If you would like to find out more, visit ou website at
www.landair.co.uk.

Regards

Lee Jones
Director
From: Lee Jones <Lee@landair.demon.co.uk>

["Daniel Castillo Brieva"]

To the system dynamics community,

I am looking for information about the combination between SD and =
Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Any reference material on applying =
SD in this area would be helpful.


Thanks for your help.

DANIEL CASTILLO
Santaf=E9 de Bogot=E1, Colombia.
e-mail: bedocas@latino.net.co

["Bob Walker"]

Daniel; There are at least two organizations I am aware of that provide
capabilities linking dynamic modeling and GIS functionality.

Robbert Associates is a Canadian company which offers a powerful UNIX-based
modeling package called whatIf?. It has extensive geo-mapping capabilities
and has been used successfully for a number of resource-based applications
including a large scale project in Australia. See their website at:
http://www.robbert.ca/ or contact Rob Hoffman at rhoffman@robbert.ca

Landair International of the UK have developed real-time linkages between
Vensim and MapInfo Professional for spatial analysis. See their website at:
http://www.landair.co.uk/.

Good luck;
Robert J. Walker
Condor Associates
Business Dynamics for Management
Bus +1 613-733-7084
Fax +1 613-733-0883
condora@home.com

[Sajjad]

Have a look at this paper

Matthias, R., and Frederick, P. (1994). =93Modeling spatial dynamics of s=
ea-level rise in a coastal area.=94 System Dynamics Review, 10 (4) (winte=
r 1994), 375-389

They have coupled STELLA and GIS System GRASS (Geographical Resources Ana=
lysis Support System) to model sea-level fluctuations in coastal area.

Sajjad Ahmad
Graduate Student
Facility for Intelligent Decision Support
University of Manitoba, Canada
From: Sajjad <sajjad@CE.UManitoba.CA>

["j-d"]

Contact Prof. Bruce Hannon at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign. He (and Jim Westervelt) had done some neat work with (if I
remember correctly) the Florida Everglades, breaking the region down into
small parts (using GRASS, a GIS) and having a Stella model for each part. So
the Stella model of each part described the low-level dynamic behavior, and
the combined large mega-model described the aggregate dynamic behavior of
the ecosystem.

Prof. Bruce Hannon (b-hannon@uiuc.edu - phone 217 333-0348 in USA)

Jaideep
From: "j-d" <j-d@technologist.com>
http://www.netopia.geocities.com/shunya/

[Dave Theobald]

A while back I briefly explored how to integrate SD and GIS (and Cellular
Automata) concepts into a modeling environment:

Theobald, D.M. and Gross, M.D. 1994. EML: A modeling environment for
exploring landscape dynamics. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems 18:
193-204.

From: Dave Theobald <davet@NREL.ColoState.EDU>