Canada’s Provinces Geospatial Data Visualization Using NetLogo and GIS

Abstract

NetLogo is a free of charge multi-agent programmable modeling environment authored by Dr. Uri Wilensky and developed at Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling (CCL) [1]. It is a relatively easy to learn-and-use software that allows researchers to set up and test their agent-based models [2]. One of the most powerful extensions that the software has is the NetLogo GIS Extension [3]. It provides the ability to load vector, and raster GIS data into the models [3]. The focus of this study is to research the steps to visualize the geospatial data of Canada’s Provinces in NetLogo. Each Province will be assigned a color and the Province name will be shown as well. The GIS Extension will be used, and the dataset is a real-world dataset found on Statistics Canada [4]. This project has the potential to be used as a base for future ABM (Agent-Based Models) that will be developed in the NetLogo software related to Canada’s Provinces’ urban development.