Human Terrain Data - What Should We Do with
It?
Barry G. Silverman (University of Pennsylvania)
Abstract:
What are we in the Modeling & Simulation (M&S)
community to do with the volumes of `Human terrain' data now being published
by the military and others in databases of the demographics and
needs/values/norms of populations of interest? This paper suggests that the
M&S community would be remiss if it did not rise to this challenge and
suggest next steps for the use of this HT data resource. These datasets are a
key asset for those interested in synthesis of two major agent-based modeling
paradigms - the cognitive and the social - as this paper argues. We pursue
this argument with a case study integrating a cognitive agent environment
(PMFserv) and a social agent environment (FactionSIm) and applying them to
various regions of interest (Iraq, SE Asia, Crusades) to assess their validity
and realism.
