Simulating Sprawl

Sleuth, a computer model developed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), is used to simulate the fusing of the American eastern seaboard one giant megalopolis - the Sprawl. It divides maps into a grid of cellular automata - mathematical constructs such as cells or pixels - and charts the spread of urban land into rural. In an early application, Sleuth simulated long-term urban growth along the eastern corridor. Discrete blobs of color representing Washington, DC, New York, and Boston in 1998 spread outward on the map until by 2100 the three had become one city.