=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-1598/paper6
|storemode=property
|title=A framework to specify agent-based models in geographic sciences
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1598/paper6.pdf
|volume=Vol-1598
|authors=Cédric Grueau,João Araujo
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/agile/Grueau015
}}
==A framework to specify agent-based models in geographic sciences==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1598/paper6.pdf
A framework to specify Agent-Based Models in
Geographic Sciences
Cédric Grueau and João Araujo
Abstract Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) and simulation have gained popularity in
the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) domain. Despite the increasing number
of models built by experts and users, it remains challenging for users to specify their
models in a manner in which one can understand it. This constraint represents an
inhibition to the development and acceptance of the ABM approach. In this paper,
we raise the questions that need to be answered in order to cope with ABM speci-
fication issues. We review some of the existing solutions that have been developed.
We propose a framework that includes a domain specific modeling language to re-
spond to ABM specification problem. We finally present the first step towards its
development.
Key words: Domain ontology, Agent-Based Modeling, Domain Specific Modeling
Language, Geographic Information Science
Cédric Grueau
NOVA Laboratory for Computer Science and Informatics,
Departamento de Informática, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia,
Universidade Nova de Lisboa,
Quinta da Torre, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal e-mail: cedric.grueau@estsetubal.ips.pt
João Araujo
NOVA Laboratory for Computer Science and Informatics,
Departamento de Informática, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia,
Universidade Nova de Lisboa,
Quinta da Torre, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal e-mail: joao.araujo@fct.unl.pt
Copyright c by the paper’s authors. Copying permitted for private and academic purposes.
In: A. Comber, B. Bucher, S. Ivanovic (eds.): Proceedings of the 3rd AGILE Phd School, Champs
sur Marne, France, 15-17-September-2015, published at http://ceur-ws.org
1
2 Cédric Grueau and João Araujo
1 Introduction
In the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) domain, Spatial Modeling and Spatial
Simulation are processes conducted by users of an information system in order to
understand phenomenons and plan ahead.
From the different types of models used in the GIS community, Agent-Based
Models (ABMs) have become a popular paradigm to perform spatial simulation.
ABMS are employed to reason, experiment and extrapolate about systems. ABMs
are designed and developed by representing the key decision-making entities as
agents and by describing the environment in which they are interacting with a spa-
tial model of the landscape. In the last decade, the degree of flexibility and the
ability to represent social interactions induced multidisciplinary teams working in
geographical sciences to develop different models based on agents. Through sim-
ulation, experts can reproduce agents’ interactions over time to approach spatial
problems. [11] , [8] and [1] provide a broad range of these applications.
But despite its high degree of flexibility, the agent approach presents some weak-
nesses when it comes to re-using, implementing and evaluating models. Experts are
experiencing difficulties to specify and share this type of model. They don’t have a
common representation as it happens in the software community with the Unified
Modeling Language (UML) for instance. Those weaknesses represent constraints
and inhibitions to the development and acceptance of the ABM field. To cope with
these limitations, the objective of our research project is to built a framework where
experts could specify their ABM, store them and share them with the community of
experts.
2 Related Work
Some authors have addressed the problem of communicating about ABM. The ODD
(Overview, Design concepts, Details) protocol, described in [3] is aimed at describ-
ing individual-based models and agent-based models in scientific publications and is
essentially focused on communication and reimplementation of ABM. ODD is de-
signed to describe only one definite model version [4] and can not be directly com-
piled to computer code. MR POTATOHEAD [10] is another approach that tackles
the design of agent-based models of land use change. It is based on an ontology tai-
lored to a particular subset of models and enables a more detailed comparison to be
made than the more generally applicable ODD. In [2], authors present an ontology
defining an agent-based simulation framework and discuss the possibilities for us-
ing the Web Ontology Language’s (OWL) automated reasoning capabilities. How to
benefit from OWL and Semantic Web technologies for simulation is also the topic of
other works. In [13] Polhill and colleagues illustrate how deploying an agent-based
model on the Semantic Grid facilitates international collaboration on investigations
using such a model, and contributes to establishing rigorous working practises with
agent-based models as part of good science in social simulation. Polhill and Gotts
A framework to specify Agent-Based Models in Geographic Sciences 3
[12] presented another interesting approach to address ABM transparency issues.
The authors propose to implement ABM simulations using ontologies, instead of
object-oriented languages. The body of work, cited above, represents a step forward
to more transparent ABM. But they individually only respond partially to the issues
we want to address in our research.
3 Research Questions
In order to respond to ABM specification issues, we propose to follow an approach
that will address three questions. The first question is how to represent ABM infor-
mation structure in a manner in which it is decoupled from the simulation software
and can be independently processed. The second question to address relates to the
level of abstraction to achieve in order to represent the concepts of the domain. In
fact, the abstraction should enable to represent concepts and relationships for a mul-
tidisciplinary audience who is not necessarily expert in computer science, but, at
the same time be precise enough to represent all concepts of the domain. A third
question to answer is which tools should be provided to users to create and explore
ABM? Finally our research project should respond to a last question, which is, how
can we ensure that an executable implementation conforms to a system’s model?
4 Method and Expected Results
In order to respond to the questions raised above, we advocate the development of
a framework (see figure 1) that would allow for specifying, exploring and export-
ing ABM as linked data, using the semantic web approach. This framework should
integrate a domain specific language to manage models’ specifications and visu-
alise agent-based models for the GIS domain. The DSML should be supported by
a domain ontology that represents the main concepts used in ABM in GIS related
sciences. Those are essentially concepts related with model scheduling and initiali-
sation.
Initial results consist in an ontology that represents not only the concepts inher-
ent to ABM but also concepts integrated in GIS domain like the spatial environment
and the concepts described in protocols such as the ODD protocol and its evolution
ODD+ [9]. Since, ideally, domain ontologies should be grounded in foundational
ontologies [5], our domain ontology is taking as basis the Unified Foundational On-
tology (UFO) [7], [6]. To support the implementation of this language, we have
designed an architecture depicted in figure 1. The architecture should allow the con-
version between models’ representation trough models transformation using MDE
techniques. We will build a model editor that will allow to create and explore ABM.
This editor will be supported, by widgets that could vary according to the type of
4 Cédric Grueau and João Araujo
user. This widgets will implement visualisation of relevant aspects of the model such
as maps, text and so on.
Fig. 1 Arquitecture for the proposed framework
By providing an agent-based modeling platform to the GIS community, we aim
at empowering its users with a common platform to represent and communicate the
systems and sub-models they are working on.
Protocols such as ODD and ODD+ describe model entities using natural lan-
guage. If we can improve on these protocols by linking these descriptions to on-
tological entities that can easily be handled by machines, we look forward to con-
tribute for a better validation and reuse of theses models, among the domain com-
munity. We also expect that the choice we made about using a foundational ontology
as a basis for our domain ontology will facilitate the adoption and extension of our
DSML to other related domains.
A framework to specify Agent-Based Models in Geographic Sciences 5
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