Within the geo-simulation research domain, micro-simulation and agent-based modeling often require the creation of synthetic populations. Creating such data is a time-consuming task and often lacks social networks, which are crucial for studying human interactions (e.g., disease spread, disaster response) while at the same time impacting decision-making. We address these challenges by introducing a Python based method that uses the open data including that from 2020 U.S. Census data to generate a large-scale realistic geographically explicit synthetic population for America’s 50 states and Washington D.C. along with the stylized social networks (e.g., home, work and schools). The resulting synthetic population can be utilized within various geo-simulation approaches (e.g., agent-based modeling), exploring the emergence of complex phenomena through human interactions and further fostering the study of urban digital twins. 
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                            Geographically-Explicit Synthetic Populations for Agent-based Models: A Gallery of Applications
                        
                    
    
            Over the last two decades, there has been a growth in the applications of geographically-explicit agent-based models. One thing such models have in common is the creation of synthetic populations to initialize the artificial worlds in which the agents inhabit. One challenge such models face is that it is often difficult to create reusable geographically-explicit synthetic populations with social networks. In this paper, we introduce a Python based method that generates a reusable geographically-explicit synthetic population dataset along with its social networks. In addition, we present a pipeline for using the population datasets for model initialization. With this pipeline, multiple spatial and temporal scales of geographically-explicit agent-based models are presented focusing on Western New York. Such models not only demonstrate the utility of our synthetic population on commuting patterns but also how social networks can impact the simulation of disease spread and vaccination uptake. By doing so, this pipeline could benefit any modeler wishing to reuse synthetic populations with realistic geographic locations and social networks. 
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                            - Award ID(s):
- 2200173
- PAR ID:
- 10538215
- Editor(s):
- na
- Publisher / Repository:
- Proceedings of the 2023 Conference of The Computational Social Science Society of the Americas,
- Date Published:
- ISSN:
- na
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Agent-Based Model Geographically-Explicit Agent-Based Models Synthetic Population Python Mesa
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: n/a Other: n/a
- Size(s):
- n/a
- Location:
- Santa Fe, NM
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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