We live in a dynamic world that includes various types of changes at different locations over time in natural environments as well as in human societies. Modern sensing technology, location-aware technology and mobile technology have made it feasible to collect spatiotemporal tracking data at a high spatial and temporal granularity and at affordable costs. Coupled with powerful information and communication technologies, we now have much better data and computing platforms to pursue computational modeling of spatiotemporal dynamics. Researchers have attempted to better understand various kinds of spatiotemporal dynamics in order to predict, or even control, future changes of certain phenomena. A simple approach to representing spatiotemporal dynamics is by adding time (t) to the spatial dimensions (x,y,z) of each feature. However, spatiotemporal dynamics in the real world are more complex than a simple representation of (x,y,z,t) that describes the location of a feature at a given time. This article presents selected concepts, computational modeling approaches, and sample applications that provide a foundation to computational modeling of spatiotemporal dynamics. We also indicate why the research of spatiotemporal dynamics is important to geographic information systems (GIS) and geographic information science (GIScience), especially from a temporal GIS perspective.

Agent-based models are dynamic simulation models that provide insight into complex geographic systems. Individuals are represented as agents that are encoded with goal-seeking objectives and decision-making behaviors to facilitate their movement through or changes to their surrounding environment. The collection of localized interactions amongst agents and their environment over time leads to emergent system-level spatial patterns. In this sense, agent-based models belong to a class of bottom-up simulation models that focus on how processes unfold over time in ways that produce interesting, and at times surprising, patterns that we observe in the real world.

Figure 1. Group movement patterns as illustrated in this coordinated escape behavior of a group of mountain goat (Rubicapra rubicapra) evading approaching hikers on the Fuorcla Trupchun near the Italian/Swiss border are at the core of computational movement analysis. Once the trajectories of moving objects are collected and made accessible for computational processing, CMA aims at a better understanding of the characteristics of movement processes of animals, people or things in geographic space.

Computational Movement Analysis (CMA) develops and applies analytical computational tools aiming at a better understanding of movement data. CMA copes with the rapidly growing data streams capturing the mobility of people, animals, and things roaming geographic spaces. CMA studies how movement can be represented, modeled, and analyzed in GIS&T. The CMA toolbox includes a wide variety of approaches, ranging from database research, over computational geometry to data mining and visual analytics.

We live in a dynamic world that includes various types of changes at different locations over time in natural environments as well as in human societies. Modern sensing technology, location-aware technology and mobile technology have made it feasible to collect spatiotemporal tracking data at a high spatial and temporal granularity and at affordable costs. Coupled with powerful information and communication technologies, we now have much better data and computing platforms to pursue computational modeling of spatiotemporal dynamics. Researchers have attempted to better understand various kinds of spatiotemporal dynamics in order to predict, or even control, future changes of certain phenomena. A simple approach to representing spatiotemporal dynamics is by adding time (t) to the spatial dimensions (x,y,z) of each feature. However, spatiotemporal dynamics in the real world are more complex than a simple representation of (x,y,z,t) that describes the location of a feature at a given time. This article presents selected concepts, computational modeling approaches, and sample applications that provide a foundation to computational modeling of spatiotemporal dynamics. We also indicate why the research of spatiotemporal dynamics is important to geographic information systems (GIS) and geographic information science (GIScience), especially from a temporal GIS perspective.

We live in a dynamic world that includes various types of changes at different locations over time in natural environments as well as in human societies. Modern sensing technology, location-aware technology and mobile technology have made it feasible to collect spatiotemporal tracking data at a high spatial and temporal granularity and at affordable costs. Coupled with powerful information and communication technologies, we now have much better data and computing platforms to pursue computational modeling of spatiotemporal dynamics. Researchers have attempted to better understand various kinds of spatiotemporal dynamics in order to predict, or even control, future changes of certain phenomena. A simple approach to representing spatiotemporal dynamics is by adding time (t) to the spatial dimensions (x,y,z) of each feature. However, spatiotemporal dynamics in the real world are more complex than a simple representation of (x,y,z,t) that describes the location of a feature at a given time. This article presents selected concepts, computational modeling approaches, and sample applications that provide a foundation to computational modeling of spatiotemporal dynamics. We also indicate why the research of spatiotemporal dynamics is important to geographic information systems (GIS) and geographic information science (GIScience), especially from a temporal GIS perspective.