High-Performance Computing and Geography.pdf

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1、EnvironmentandPlanningA1998,volume30,pages1839-1856High-performancecomputingandgeography:developments,issues,andcasestudiesITurton,SOpenshawCentreforComputationalGeography,SchoolofGeography,UniversityofLeeds,LeedsLS29JT,England;e-mail:Ian@geog.leeds.ac.uk;Stan@geog.leeds.ac.uk

2、Received15January1997;inrevisedform27October1997Abstract.InthispaperweoutlinesomeoftheresultsthatwereobtainedbytheapplicationofaCrayT3Dparallelsupercomputertohumangeographyproblems.Weemphasisethefundamentalimpor•tanceofhigh-performancecomputing(HPC)asafuturerelevantparadigmfor

3、doinggeography.Weofferanintroductiontorecentdevelopmentsandillustratehownewcomputationalintelligencetechnologiescanstarttobeusedtomakeuseofopportunitiescreatedbydatarichesfromgeographicinformationsystems,artificialintelligencetools,andHPCingeography.1IntroductionTheCentreforCo

4、mputationalGeographyandtheSchoolofComputerStudiesattheUniversityofLeedsformedaconsortiumundertheEngineeringandPhysicalScienceResearchCouncil'sHighPerformanceComputingInitiative(HPCI)in1994.Thisconsortiumhadthreemainaims:(1)toportaselectionofexistingvectorandserialgeographycode

5、stothe512-processorCrayT3D;(2)topreservetheprogrammingandportingeffortbyconformingtoprogrammingstandards[MessagePassingInterface(MPI)andFortran77/90];(3)tousethesecodestocarryoutnewsciencethathadpreviouslybeenconsideredcomputationallyinfeasible;and(4)tousetheresultsandtheexper

6、iencetoraiseawarenessofhigh-performancecomputing(HPC)inthegeographycommunity,particularlytoillustratewhatisnowpossibleintherapidlydevelopingfieldofparallelsupercomputing.Thisfourthaimisthepurposeofthispaper.Theworldofcomputingunderwentaquietrevolutionofprofoundlong-termsig•nif

7、icanceintheearly1990s.Hillis(1992)arguesthatitwastheninthethroesofamajortechnologicalchangecharacterisedbythedevelopmentofhighlyparallelsuper-computinghardwarewhichwasabouttochangesignificantlyhowscienceisdone.Thisprocessisnowcomplete.Fastersupercomputershavestimulatednewwayso

8、fdoingscienceinareasthatarejusttoocomplextobehandledbyanyothe