Spatial Differences in Multi-Resolution Urban Automata Modeling

The last decade has seen a renaissance in spatial modeling. Increased computational power and the greater availability of spatial data have aided in the creation of new modeling techniques for studying and predicting the growth of cities and urban areas. Cellular automata is one modeling technique that has become widely used and cited in the literature; yet there are still some very basic questions that need to be answered with regards to the use of these models, specifically relating to the spatial resolution during calibration and how it can impact model forecasts. Using the SLEUTH urban growth model (Clarke et al. 1997), urban growth for San Joaquin County (CA) is projected using three different spatial grains, based on four calibration routines, and the spatial differences between the model outputs are examined. Model outputs show that calibration at finer scaled data results in different parameter sets, and forecasting of urban growth in areas that was not captured through the use of more coarse data.