this unique book brings together a comprehensive set of papers on the background, theory, technical issues and applications of agent-based modelling (abm) within geographical systems. abm is starting to mature as a methodology in geography and across the social sciences, and this volume draws together the different strands and main issues of such research. in this book a thorough background to the premise of abm and other commonly used geo-computational techniques is presented. it will help to organise the diverse landscape of abm by bringing together essays on theoretical and practical applications of abm in spatial systems, thereby discussing in detail issues, pros and cons with realistically modelling the spatially influenced systems and linking to past modelling theory (for the first time tracing abm evolution). part 1 presents an overview of the most commonly used geocomputational methods in geography. part 2 examines the principles and concepts underlying abm. part 3 follows on from part 2 by providing an overview and guidance to many of the common and new technical issues that modellers face when creating an abm. the final section draws together a wide range of applications from the micro to macro scale of geographical systems and sets out an agenda for future areas of promising abm research.