Generation of realistic mega-city populations and social networks for agent-based modeling

Annetta Burger; Talha Oz; Andrew Crooks; William G. Kennedy

doi:10.1145/3145574.3145593

Generation of realistic mega-city populations and social networks for agent-based modeling

Annetta Burger, Talha Oz, Andrew Crooks, William G. Kennedy

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

Agent-based modeling is a means for researchers to conduct large-scale computer experiments on synthetic human populations and study their behaviors under different conditions. These models have been applied to questions regarding disease spread in epidemiology, terrorist and criminal activity in sociology, and traffic and commuting patterns in urban studies. However, developing realistic control populations remains a key challenge for the research and experimentation. Modelers must balance the need for representative, heterogeneous populations with the computational costs of developing large population sets. Increasingly these models also need to include the social network relationships within populations that influence social interactions and behavioral patterns. To address this we used a mixed method of iterative proportional fitting and network generation to build a synthesized subset population of the New York megacity and region. Our approach demonstrates how a robust population and social network relevant to specific human behavior can be synthesized for agent-based models.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 2017 International Conference of the Computational Social Science Society of the Americas, CSS 2017
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450352697
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3145574.3145593
State	Published - Oct 19 2017
Externally published	Yes
Event	2017 International Conference of the Computational Social Science Society of the Americas, CSS 2017 - Santa Fe, United States Duration: Oct 19 2017 → Oct 22 2017

Publication series

Name	ACM International Conference Proceeding Series

Conference

Conference	2017 International Conference of the Computational Social Science Society of the Americas, CSS 2017
Country/Territory	United States
City	Santa Fe
Period	10/19/17 → 10/22/17

Funding

This work was supported by the Center for Social Complexity at George Mason University and the Defense Technology Research Agency (DTRA) under Grant number HDTRA1-16-0043. The opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this work are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsors.

Keywords

Agent-based Models
Geographical Systems
Mega-city
Population Synthesis
Social Networks

Access to Document

10.1145/3145574.3145593

Cite this

Burger, A., Oz, T., Crooks, A., & Kennedy, W. G. (2017). Generation of realistic mega-city populations and social networks for agent-based modeling. In Proceedings of the 2017 International Conference of the Computational Social Science Society of the Americas, CSS 2017 Article a15 (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3145574.3145593

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Burger, A, Oz, T, Crooks, A & Kennedy, WG 2017, Generation of realistic mega-city populations and social networks for agent-based modeling. in Proceedings of the 2017 International Conference of the Computational Social Science Society of the Americas, CSS 2017., a15, ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, Association for Computing Machinery, 2017 International Conference of the Computational Social Science Society of the Americas, CSS 2017, Santa Fe, United States, 10/19/17. https://doi.org/10.1145/3145574.3145593

Generation of realistic mega-city populations and social networks for agent-based modeling. / Burger, Annetta; Oz, Talha; Crooks, Andrew et al.
Proceedings of the 2017 International Conference of the Computational Social Science Society of the Americas, CSS 2017. Association for Computing Machinery, 2017. a15 (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

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Burger A, Oz T, Crooks A, Kennedy WG. Generation of realistic mega-city populations and social networks for agent-based modeling. In Proceedings of the 2017 International Conference of the Computational Social Science Society of the Americas, CSS 2017. Association for Computing Machinery. 2017. a15. (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series). doi: 10.1145/3145574.3145593

Generation of realistic mega-city populations and social networks for agent-based modeling

Abstract

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Keywords

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