Patent Publication Number: US-11037374-B2

Title: Collaborative geographical modeling platform integrating virtual objects and physical objects

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Geographical environment contains a large number of complex elements such as atmosphere, water, soil, vegetation, and buildings. Human depends on the geographical environment for daily living and changes the geographical environment by activities including building bridges, expanding cities and planting crops at the same time. 
     Geo-modeling methods are useful for analyzing the geographical environment and identifying characteristics of various geographical elements of the geographical environment. However, the existing geo-modeling methods either only use physical media such as blackboard or paper to support users to collaboratively solve geographical issues, or only allow the users to create virtual objects on a computing device to analyze the geographical environment. 
     For varied tasks of geographical analysis, geographical model construction and geographical model simulation, these isolated methods based only on physical objects or only on virtual objects are limited for the users dispersed in different places and having knowledge of multiple disciplines or multiple scientific fields. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     There continues to be a need in the art for improved designs and techniques for a geographical modeling/simulation platform that integrates both virtual objects and physical objects to enable the users of different fields to effectively perform analysis of the geographical environment. 
     Embodiments of the subject invention pertain to a collaborative geographical platform integrating virtual objects and physical object for geographical analysis, geographical model construction, and geographical model simulation. 
     According to an embodiment of the invention, the collaborative geographical modeling/simulating system can comprise a geographical conceptual modeling device comprising a plurality of physically operable micro-geographical objects and a plurality of physically operable micro-data objects; and a collaborative control device coupled to the geographical conceptual modeling device, comprising a resource module having a plurality of virtual resource items and a management module. The plurality of physically operable micro-geographical objects and the plurality of physically operable micro-data objects can be configured to be associated with corresponding virtual resource items of the plurality of virtual resource items. Moreover, the geographical conceptual modeling device can be configured to transmit operation information of both the micro-geographical objects and the micro-data objects to the management module. Furthermore, the management module can be configured to receive the operation information from the geographical conceptual modeling device, retrieve resource information of the virtual resource items from the resource module, and perform geographical analysis, geographical model construction, and geographical model simulation based on the operation information and the resource information. 
     In another embodiment, a method for a collaborative geographical modeling/simulating system that comprises a geographical conceptual modeling device comprising a plurality of physically operable micro-geographical objects and a plurality of physically operable micro-data objects, a collaborative control device coupled to the geographical conceptual modeling device and comprising a resource module having a plurality of virtual resource items and a management module is provided. The method comprises associating the plurality of physically operable micro-geographical objects and the plurality of physically operable micro-data objects with corresponding virtual resource items of the plurality of virtual resource items; transmitting, by the geographical conceptual modeling device, information of operations of both the micro-geographical objects and the micro-data objects to the management module; receiving, by the management module, the operation information from the geographical conceptual modeling device; retrieving, by the management module, resource information of the virtual resource items from the resource module; and performing, by the management module, geographical analysis, geographical model construction, and geographical model simulation based on the operation information and the resource information. 
     In some embodiments, the collaborative geographical modeling/simulating system can further comprise at least one participant device coupled to the collaborative control device. Moreover, the management module can be configured to transmit results of the geographical analysis, the geographical model construction, and the geographical model simulation to the at least one participant device, the at least one participant device can be configured to receive the results of the geographical analysis, the geographical model construction, and the geographical model simulation and visually present the results on the display. Furthermore, the at least one participant device can be configured to dynamically provide information to the resource module or the management module of the collaborative control device for adjusting and optimizing performance of the geographical analysis, the geographical model construction, and the geographical model simulation. 
     In certain embodiments, the plurality of virtual resource items can comprise at least one geographical cognition item, at least one geographical rule item, at least one drawing item, at least one model item, and at least one data item. Moreover, the at least one geographical cognition item, the at least one geographical rule item, and the at least one drawing item can be mutually attached to one another. Furthermore, the geographical cognition item can be bound to the model item or the data item; the geographical rule item is bound to the model item or the data item; and the drawing item is bound to the model item or the data item. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of a collaborative geographical modeling/simulating system according to an embodiment of the subject invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of a geographical conceptual modeling device of the collaborative geographical modeling/simulating system according to an embodiment of the subject invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram of a micro-geographical object of the geographical conceptual modeling device according to an embodiment of the subject invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram of a micro-data object of the geographical conceptual modeling device according to an embodiment of the subject invention. 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram of a resource module of a collaborative control device of the collaborative geographical modeling/simulating system according to an embodiment of the subject invention. 
         FIG. 6  a schematic diagram of a management module of the collaborative control device of the collaborative geographical modeling/simulating system according to an embodiment of the subject invention. 
         FIG. 7  a schematic diagram of an integrated model executor of the management module of the collaborative control device of the collaborative geographical modeling/simulating system according to an embodiment of the subject invention. 
         FIG. 8  is a schematic diagram of a participant device of the collaborative geographical modeling/simulating system according to an embodiment of the subject invention. 
         FIG. 9  shows a visualization container of the participant device of the collaborative geographical modeling/simulating system according to an embodiment of the subject invention. 
         FIG. 10  shows a flow chart of operational processes of the collaborative geographical modeling/simulating system according to an embodiment of the subject invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION 
     Embodiments of the subject invention relate to advantageous collaborative geographical modeling/simulating systems, methods of operating the same, and methods of using the same. 
     In some embodiments, a collaborative geographic modeling/simulating system can be configured to, and/or used for, integrating physical objects representing geographical elements and virtual objects corresponding to the physical objects and performing geographical analysis, geographical model construction, and geographical model simulation based on the results of the integration. Referring to  FIG. 1 , the collaborative geographic modeling/simulating system  10  can comprise a geographical conceptual modeling device  100 , a collaborative control device  200 , and at least one participant device  300 . To represent and express various geographical elements of real-world geographical environments, the geographical conceptual modeling device  100  can comprise a plurality of physically operable micro-geographical objects  110  and a plurality of physically operable micro-data objects  120 . The geographical conceptual modeling device  100  is coupled to the collaborative control device  200  for transmitting information of operations of the plurality of micro-geographical objects  110  and the plurality of micro-data objects  120  from the geographical conceptual modeling device  100  to the collaborative control device  200 . 
     As illustrated by  FIG. 1 , the collaborative control device  200  can comprise a resource module  210  including a plurality of virtual resource items for geographical analysis and a management module  250  for geographical model construction and geographical model simulation. The plurality of micro-geographical objects  110  and the plurality of micro-data objects  120  of the geographical conceptual modeling device  100  can be configured to be associated with the virtual resource items of the resource module  210  of the collaborative control device  200 . 
     When the information of the operations of the plurality of micro-geographical objects  110  and the plurality of micro-data objects  120  is transmitted from the geographical conceptual modeling device  100  to the management module  250  of the collaborative control device  200 , the management module  250  is configured to receive the operation information, retrieve resource information of virtual resource items from the resource module  210 , and perform geographical analysis, geographical model construction, and geographical model simulation based on the operation information and the resource information. 
     Referring again to  FIG. 1 , the at least one participant device  300  is coupled to the collaborative control device  200  such that the collaborative control device  200  can transmit the results of the geographical analysis, the geographical model construction, and the geographical model simulation to the at least one participant device  300 . When receiving the results from the collaborative control device  200 , the at least one participant device  300  is configured to visualize the results and visually present the results on a display. 
     In one embodiment, the at least one participant device  300  can be configured to dynamically provide information to the resource module  210  or the management module  250  of the collaborative control device  200  for adjusting and optimizing performance of the geographical analysis, the geographical model construction, and the geographical model simulation of the collaborative geographic modeling/simulating system  10 . 
       FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of the geographical conceptual modeling device  100  according to an embodiment of the subject invention. The geographical conceptual modeling device  100  can comprise a plurality of micro-geographic objects  110 ; a plurality of micro-data objects  120 ; an object holder  128  such as a table upon which the plurality of micro-geographic objects  110  and the plurality of microdata objects  120  can be disposed; one or more sensors  130  for sensing the status, actions, movements, or operations of both the plurality of micro-geographical objects  110  and the plurality of micro-data objects  120 ; a communication device  140  for transmitting information of the operation of the plurality of micro-geographical objects  110  and the plurality of micro-data objects  120  to the collaborative control device  200 ; a power supply  150  for providing power to the geographical conceptual modeling device  100 ; a status monitor  160  for monitoring statuses of the plurality of micro-geographic objects  110  and the plurality of microdata objects  120 ; and a controller  170  for controlling the statuses, actions, movements, or operations of the micro-geographical objects  110  and the micro-data objects  120 . 
     In one embodiment, the sensors  130  can sense the positions of the plurality of micro-geographical objects  110  and the plurality of micro-data objects  120  with respect to the object holder  128  and determine whether the the micro-geographical objects  110  and the micro-data objects  120  exceed the boundary of the object holder  128 . If any of the micro-geographical objects  110  and the micro-data objects  120  exceeds the boundary of the object holder  128 , this information is transmitted to the controller  170  to adjust the operations of the corresponding micro-geographical object  110  or the micro-data objects  120  to confine the micro-geographical object  110  or the micro-data objects  120  within the the boundary of the object holder  128 . 
     The object holder  128  can comprise one or more operation sensors (not shown) that can be associated with the micro-geographical objects  110  and the plurality of micro-data objects  120  through a device connector  115  of the micro-geographical objects  110  shown in  FIG. 3  or a device connector  125  of the micro-data objects  120  shown in  FIG. 4  for the physical deployment of the micro-geographical objects  110  and the micro-data objects  120  on the object holder  128 . 
     Information of the operations of the micro-geographical objects  110  or the micro-data objects  120  is transmitted to a physical deployment device (not shown) through the device connector  115  or  125  of the micro-geographical objects  110  and the micro-data objects  120 , respectively. 
     The object holder  128  acquires the information of the operations of the micro-geographical objects  110  and the micro-data objects  120  by the operation sensors (not shown) and transmits the information, through the communication device  140 , to the collaborative control device  200  for the geographical analysis, the geographical model construction, and the geographical model simulation. 
     As illustrated by  FIG. 3 , each micro-geographical object  110  of the geographical conceptual modeling device  100  can comprise one or more physical attributes  111 , a resource connector  113 , a device connector  115 , and an operation-aware interface  117 . 
     The physical attributes  111  of the micro-geographical object  110  can comprise geographical information such as shape attributes, material attributes, color attributes, texture attributes, weight attributes, electromagnetic field attributes, or sensor attributes. When the micro-geographic object  110  is disposed on the geographical conceptual modeling device  100 , the physical attributes  111  of the micro-geographical object  110  are registered with the geographical conceptual modeling device  100 . 
     The resource connector  113  of the micro-geographical object  110  is configured to associate the micro-geographical object  110  with a corresponding virtual geographical cognition item  221  of the geographical cognition repository  220 , a corresponding virtual geographical rule item  231  the geographical rule repository  230 , a corresponding virtual drawing item  236  of the drawing repository  235 , or a corresponding virtual model item  246  of the model repository  240  of the resource module  210  of  FIG. 5 . 
     In addition, the micro-geographical object  110  can be associated with the corresponding virtual resource items of the resource module  210  by either an active association or a passive association. For the active association, the micro-geographical object  110  directly requests the virtual resource items from the resource module  210  and the micro-geographical object  110  is associated with the virtual resource items through the sensor attributes of the physical attributes  111 . On the other hand, for the passive association, the micro-geographical object  110  requests virtual resource items from the resource module  210  through the geographical conceptual modeling device  100 . The geographical conceptual modeling device  100  provides means for the micro-geographical objects  110  to be associated with the virtual resource items of the resource module  210 . 
     Referring again to  FIG. 3 , the device connector  115  is configured for communication between the micro-geographical object  110  and the geographical conceptual modeling device  100 . The physical attributes  111  of the micro-geographical object  110  are registered with the geographical conceptual modeling device  100  through the device connector  115  such that the micro-geographical object  110  is passively associated with the virtual resource items through the geographical conceptual modeling device  100 . 
     The operation-aware interface  117  of the micro-geographical object  110  is configured to collect the information of the operations performed on the micro-geographical object  110  such as moving, lifting, pinching, adding, removing, or overlapping, by microfilming the sensor attributes of the micro-geographical object  110 . The information of the operations performed on the micro-geographical object  110  can then be provided to the geographical conceptual modeling device  100  through the device connector  115  such that the geographical conceptual modeling device  100  can transmit the operation information of the micro-geographical object  110  to the management module  250  of the collaborative control device  200 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , each micro-data object  120  of the geographical conceptual modeling device  100  can comprise physical attributes  121 , a resource connector  123 , a device connector  125 , and an operation-aware interface  127 . 
     The resource connector  123  of the micro-data object  120  is configured to associate the micro-data object  120  with a corresponding virtual geographical cognition item  221 , a corresponding virtual geographical rule item  231 , or a corresponding virtual drawing item  236  of the resource module  210 . Moreover, the resource connector  123  of the micro-data object  120  can be configured to associate the micro-data object  120  with a corresponding virtual data item  246  of the resource module  210 . However, unlike the micro-geographical object  110 , the resource connector  123  of the micro-data object  120  is not configured to associate the micro-data object  120  with a corresponding virtual model item  241  of resource module  210 . 
     In addition, the micro-data object  120  can be associated with the corresponding virtual resource items of the resource module  210  by either an active association or a passive association. For the active association, the micro-data object  120  directly requests the virtual resource items from the resource module  210  and the micro-data object  110  is associated with the virtual resource items through the sensor attributes of the physical attributes  121 . On the other hand, for the passive association, the micro-data object  120  requests resource items from the resource module  210  through the geographical conceptual modeling device  100 . The geographical conceptual modeling device  100  provides means for the micro-data object  120  to be associated with the virtual resource items of the resource module  210  for passive association. 
     In addition, the physical attributes  121 , the device connector  125 , and the operation-aware interface  127  of the micro-data object  120  work in the same way as the physical attributes  111 , the device connector  115 , and the operation-aware interface  117  of the micro-geographical object  110 . 
       FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram of the resource module  210  of the collaborative control device  200  according to an embodiment of the subject invention. The resource module  210  can be configured to store and manage all virtual resource items for performing geographical analysis, geographical model construction, and geographical model simulation. The resource module  210  includes a geographical cognition repository  220 , a geographical rule repository  230 , a drawing repository  235 , a model repository  240 , and a data repository  245 . 
     In one embodiment, the geographical cognition repository  220  can comprise at least one virtual geographical cognition item  221  virtually representing various elements of geographical environment. The geographical rule repository  230  can comprise at least one virtual geographical rule item  231  representing various geographical rules and laws of geographical environment. The drawing repository  235  can comprise at least one drawing item  236  representing various geographical elements and the geographical rules and laws in the geographical environment. The virtual resource items of the geographical cognition repository  220 , the geographical rule repository  230 , and the drawing repository  235  can be mutually attached to one another. For example, the geographical rule item  231  can be mutually attached to the geographical cognition item  221  or mutually attached to the drawing item  236 . 
     Moreover, the micro-geographical objects  110  and the micro-data objects  120  of the geographical conceptual modeling device  100  can be associated with or mapped to any one of the at least one geographical cognition item  221 , at least one the geographical rule item  231 , or the at least one drawing item  236 . 
     The model repository  240  can comprise at least one virtual model item  241 . The at least one virtual model item  241  includes computer code implementations for elements of geo-environment or a geographical process. 
     The data repository  245  can comprise at least one virtual data item  246  stored in data files for digitally representing the geographical cognition item  221  and the geographical rule item  231  of the geographical environment. The micro-data objects  120  can be associated with the at least one virtual data item  246 , but cannot be associated with the at least one virtual model item  241 ; while the micro-geographical objects  110  can be associated with at least one virtual model item  241 , but cannot be associated with the at least one virtual data item  246 . 
     In one embodiment, the geographical cognition item  221  can be bound to the at least one model item  241  or the at least one data item  246 ; the geographical rule item  231  can be bound to the at least one model item  241  or the at least one data item  246 ; and the drawing item  236  can be bound to the at least one model item  241  or the at least one data item  246 . 
     The micro-geographical object  110  can be associated with a corresponding geographical cognition item  221 , or the geographical rule item  231 , or the drawing item  236 . When the corresponding geographic cognition item  221 , or the geographical rule item  231 , or the drawing item  236  is bound to a corresponding model item  241 , the micro-geographical object  110  can be directly associated with the corresponding model item  241 . 
     In addition, the micro-data objects  120  can be associated with a corresponding geographical cognition item  221 , or the geographical rule item  231 , or the drawing item  236 . When the corresponding geographical cognition item  221 , or the geographical rule item  231 , or the drawing item  236  is bound to a corresponding data item  246 , the micro-data object  120  can be directly associated with the corresponding data item  246 . 
     In another embodiment, a user can dynamically contribute any type of virtual resource item to the resource module  210  such that the resource items contributed by the user can be shared with other users. 
     Referring to  FIG. 6 , the management module  250  of the collaborative control device  200  can be configured to aggregate information of virtual resource items provided by the resource module  210  and information of operations of the micro-geographical objects  110  and the micro-data objects  120 , perform the geographical model construction and the geographical model simulation, and distribute the results of aggregation and the geographical model simulation to the participating device  300 . 
     In one embodiment, the management module  250  can comprise an operation interface  260 , an integrated logic assembler  270 , an integrated model executor  280  coupled to the at least one participant device  300 , and a participant interface  290  coupled to the at least one participant device  300 . 
     The operation interface  260  is configured to receive the information of the operations of the micro-geographical objects  110  and the micro-data objects  120  from the geographical conceptual modeling device  100 , and retrieve appropriate virtual resource items such as the virtual geographical cognition item  221  and the virtual geographical rule item  231  according to the associations of the corresponding micro-geographical objects  110  and micro-data object  120 , a virtual drawing item  236 , a virtual model item  241 , or a virtual data item  246  from the resource module  210 . Moreover, the operation interface  260  is configured to provide information requested by the integrated logic assembler  270 . 
     The integrated logic assembler  270  is configured to logically deducing all resource items retrieved according to the retrieved geographical cognition item  221  and the retrieved geographical rule item  231  to integrate to construct a geographical model for simulation. To construct the geographical model for simulation, the integrated logic assembler  270  comprises two configurators: a model configurator  272  and a data configurator  274 . The model configurator  272  configures the relevant operational requirements of the model and the data configurator  274  configures the dependency relationship between the model and the data. The participating users can configure the integrated logic assembler  270 , for example, by adding, deleting, or modifying the parameters of the model configurator  272  or the parameters of the data configurator  274 . 
     Moreover, the at least one participant device  300  can be configured to dynamically provide information to the integrated logic assembler  270  for adjusting and optimizing performance of the geographical analysis, the geographical model construction, and the geographical model simulation of the collaborative geographic modeling/simulating system  10 . When there are more than one participant devices  300 , the different participant devices  300  can simultaneously register the micro-geographical objects  110  and micro-data objects  120  with the integrated logic assembler  270  by identifying the geographical cognition item  221  and geographical rule item  231  associated with the micro-geographical objects  110  and the micro-data objects  120 . 
     After all the associated resource items are retrieved, received, and integrated by the management module  250 , the quantitative relationships between the plurality of micro-geographical objects  110  and the plurality of micro-data object  120  representing the geographical environment are analyzed and the rationality of the constructed geographical model is judged based on the retrieved geographical cognition item  221  and geographical rule item  231 . 
     The results of the judgment are then integrated with the retrieved drawing item  236  that is associated with the micro-geographical objects  110  and micro-data objects  120  and provided to the participant interface  290  which then distributes the judgment results along with the operation information to the at least one participant device  300 . 
     The integrated model executor  280  is configured to perform the simulation of the geographical model constructed by the integrated logic assembler  270 , obtain the simulation results, and distribute the simulation results to the at least one participant device  300 . 
       FIG. 7  is a schematic diagram of the integrated model executor  280  of the management module  250  according to an embodiment of the subject invention. The integrated model executor  280  can comprise an integrated data bus  282 , an integrated model bus  284 , and an information transfer interface  286  for performing the simulation of the geographical model. The integrated data bus  282  is configured to request virtual data items from the data repository  245  of the resource module  210  such that corresponding data can be configured for all models of the integration. 
     The integrated model bus  284  is configured to request the virtual model item  241  from the model repository  240  of the resource module  210  such that different models can be integrated according to the appropriate integration logic of the geographic simulation scenario. 
     The information transfer interface  286  is configured to manage input and output of each model and the data transferred between different models. Moreover, the information transfer interface  286  is configured to transmit the intermediate results and the final results of the geographical simulation to the at least one participant device  300  for visual presentation. 
     Referring to  FIG. 8 , the participant device  300  can comprise a drawing item cache  310 , a visualization container  320 , a visualization device  330  such as a display device, and an interface  350  for receiving operation information and the results of the geographical analysis, geographical model construction, and geographical model simulation transmitted from the collaborative control device  200 . 
     The drawing item cache  310  is configured to receive the information of the operations of the micro-geographical objects  110  and the micro-data objects  120  transmitted by the management module  250 , and request the association from resource module  210  according to the micro-geographical objects  110  and the micro-data objects  120 . When the drawing item  236  is received, the drawing item  236  is cached by the drawing item cache  310  for the participant device  300  to render a visual presentation on the visualization device  330 . 
     In addition, the visualization container  320  is configured to assemble all drawing items  236  received, create a visual scene, and present the visual scene to the visualization device  330 . The visualization device  330  is configured to display the results of the visualization received from the visualization container  320 . 
     Moreover, the at least one participant device  300  can be configured to dynamically provide information to the resource module  210  or the management module  250  of the collaborative control device  200  for adjusting and optimizing performance of the geographical analysis, the geographical model construction, and the geographical model simulation of the collaborative geographic modeling/simulating system  10 . 
     In one embodiment, the at least one participant device  300  can be configured to dynamically add a new virtual resource item to the resource module  210 , remove a virtual resource item from the resource module  210 , or modify an existing virtual resource item of the resource module  210  for adjusting and optimizing the performance of the geographical analysis, the geographical model construction, and the geographical model simulation of the collaborative geographic modeling/simulating system  10 . 
     In another embodiment, the at least one participant device  300  can be configured to dynamically add a new parameter of model configuration or data configuration to the management module  250 , remove a parameter from the model configuration or data configuration of the management module  250 , or modify an existing parameter of model configuration or data configuration of the management module  250  for adjusting and optimizing the performance of the geographical analysis, the geographical model construction, and the geographical model simulation of the collaborative geographic modeling/simulating system  10 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 9 , the visualization container  320  can comprise a visual scene assembler  322  and a dynamic controller  324  and be configured to receive the visual elements and integrate the visual elements into a visual scene for presentation on the visualization device  330 . The dynamic controller  324  is configured to provide a time-varying parameter for the visualization container  320  and the time parameter information is provided to the visual scene assembler  322 . Moreover, the visual scene assembler  322  can comprise four input interfaces and one output interface. The four input interfaces of the visual scene assembler  322  include: a micro-geographical object input interface, a micro-data object input interface, a geographical simulation scene operation result input interface, and a time parameter input interface. 
     In one embodiment, the micro-geographical object input interface is configured to receive the drawing item  236  associated with the micro-geographical objects  110  for providing to the visual scene assembler  322 . The micro-data object input interface is configured for providing the drawing item  236  associated with the micro-data objects  120  to the visual scene assembler  322 . The geographical simulation scene operation result input interface is configured to receive the result data output from the integrated model executor  280  and reconstruct the received data into the drawing item  236 . The time parameter input interface is configured to receive the time parameters transmitted from the dynamic controller  324  to integrate the time parameters with all received drawing item  236  to create a dynamic visual presentation. 
     The output interface is a visual presentation output interface that transmits the constructed visual presentation to the visualization device  330 . 
     When the at least one participant device  300  receives the operation information and the rationality judgment results, a visual expression is performed, and the rationality judgment results are presented to the user through the at least one participant device  300 . 
     Accordingly, the users may operate on the participant device  300  to analyze the modeling results generated by the collaborative geographic modeling platform to analyze the past geographical phenomena, express the present geographical phenomena, and predict the future geographical phenomena. 
       FIG. 10  is a flow chart of operational processes of the collaborative geographical modeling/simulating system according to an embodiment of the subject invention. At step S 100 , the plurality of physically operable micro-geographical objects  110  and the plurality of physically operable micro-data objects  120  are associated with corresponding virtual resource items of the plurality of virtual resource items  221 / 231 / 236 / 241 / 246 . Then, at step S 200 , the information of operations of both the micro-geographical objects  110  and the micro-data objects  120  are transmitted from the geographical conceptual modeling device  100  to the management module  250 . Next, at step S 300 , when receiving the operation information from the geographical conceptual modeling device  100 , the management module  250  retrieves resource information of the virtual resource items from the resource module  210 . Further, at step S 400 , the management module  250  performs the geographical analysis, the geographical model construction, and the geographical model simulation based on the operation information received and the resource information retrieved. 
     As a person skilled in the art of geographical modeling will recognize from the previous detailed description and from the figures and claims, modifications and changes can be made to the embodiments of the invention without departing from the scope of this invention defined in the following claims. 
     All patents, patent applications, provisional applications, and publications referred to or cited herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety, including all figures and tables, to the extent they are not inconsistent with the explicit teachings of this specification. 
     It should be understood that the examples and embodiments described herein are for illustrative purposes only and that various modifications or changes in light thereof will be suggested to persons skilled in the art and are to be included within the spirit and purview of this application and the scope of the appended claims. In addition, any elements or limitations of any invention or embodiment thereof disclosed herein can be combined with any and/or all other elements or limitations (individually or in any combination) or any other invention or embodiment thereof disclosed herein, and all such combinations are contemplated with the scope of the invention without limitation thereto. 
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