"Geographical Information System (GIS) are increasingly essential to students and professionals in all areas of the geographical and environmental sciences. Spatial data and GIS Packages are currently used to solve many practical problems ranging from issues in consumer retailing to and degradation, hydrology and landscape ecology. Using real world examples this new book provides a comprehensive yet concise introduction to the theory and practice of GIS for undergraduates and professionals alike in disciplines ranging from hydrology to epidemiology, from spatial planning to agriculture.  This volume presents a set of coherent, cross-referenced perspectives on incorporating the spatial representation and analytical power of GIS with agent-based modelling of evolutionary and non-linear processes and phenomena. Many recent advances in software algorithms for incorporating geographic data in modeling social and ecological behaviors, and successes in applying such algorithms, had not been adequately reported in the literature. This book seeks to serve as the standard guide to this broad area."