---
id: books/agent-based-models-of-geographical-systems
about:
  label: Agent-Based Models of Geographical Systems
  description: >-
    Edited volume from Heppenstall, Crooks, See and Batty, 2012, collecting the
    foundations, methods and applications of agent-based modelling of geographic
    systems.
  tags:
    - agent-based
    - geography
    - simulation
    - methods
    - edited volume
  depiction: cover.jpg
book:
  authors:
    - Alison J. Heppenstall (ed.)
    - Andrew T. Crooks (ed.)
    - Linda M. See (ed.)
    - Michael Batty (ed.)
  publisher: Springer
  year: 2012
  isbn: '9789048189267'
  url: 'https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-90-481-8927-4'
domains:
  - places
  - people
provenance:
  origin: agent
  sources:
    - title: Agent-Based Models of Geographical Systems - Google Books
      url: 'https://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN9789048189267'
    - title: >-
        Crossref record for 10.1007/978-90-481-8927-4 (Agent-Based Models of
        Geographical Systems)
      url: 'https://api.crossref.org/works/10.1007/978-90-481-8927-4'
    - title: 'Open Library: Agent-Based Models of Geographical Systems'
      url: 'https://openlibrary.org/works/OL19825059W'
  created: '2026-10-17'
  reviewed: '2026-10-17'
  reviewed_by: 'Claude, from the sources listed'
  status: draft
---
A collection of chapters from many research groups on agent-based modelling where the agents live in geographic space. It covers the foundations and theory, the technical problems particular to spatial models such as handling scale and space, practical advice on building models and keeping their complexity under control, and methods for visualising and checking results, followed by applications at scales from the neighbourhood to the region. It is written for researchers and graduate students in geography and spatial analysis and for practitioners in neighbouring fields.

Place-scale twins that include people, vehicles or animals as individual actors are agent-based models of geographical systems, whether or not they use the name. This is the reference that sets out what is known about building such models well, and where the hard problems are.

Cover via Open Library.