Cellular Automaton

cellular automaton - [modeling] A mathematical construction consisting of a row or grid of cells in which each cell has an initial value"”from a known and limited number of possible values"”and all cells are simultaneously evaluated and updated according to their internal states and the values of their neighbors. The simplest cellular automaton is a row in which each cell has one of two values, such as red or green. In this case, there are eight possible value combinations for a cell and its neighbors. (If a green cell with two red neighbors is notated RGR, then the eight combinations are RRR, RRG, RGR, GRR, RGG, GRG, GGR, GGG.) A set of rules determines whether or not a cell changes value when it is evaluated. A sample rule might be, "A green cell becomes red if it has a red neighbor on both sides." Successive updates, or generations, of a cellular automaton may produce complex patterns. Cellular automata are of interest in spatial modeling and are often used to model land-cover change.

[Category=Geospatial ]

Source: esri, 14 February 2012 08:48:28, http://support.esri.com/en/knowledgebase/GISDictionary/term/abbreviation