Modeling Geographic Phenomena as Processes

The common approach to modeling geographic phenomena is based in the objectoriented paradigm. A paradigm that is argued here to be inappropriate and even unable to capture the spatio-temporal essence of the “things” we model. These phenomena include migration, erosion, urban sprawl, percolation, and development, which form the basis of a geographer’s education in processes as opposed to objects. Modeling such phenomena as a collection of objects that undergoes change upon a spatial plain ignores that change defines the process. An alternative basis for modeling spatio-temporal phenomena is proposed that involves developing a conceptual framework that takes change as its core, a framework defined by process. The redefinition of modeling rudiments recommends new approaches to observation and measurement of geographic phenomena in order to develop an example of modeling geographic phenomena as processes.