Goal: Understand how the landscape works.
Learn as much as we can from the data we have.
Quantitative Framework: a digital landscape
http://www.netmaptools.org/Pages/NetMapHelp/drex_netmap_s_digital_landscape_custom.png
Spatially Explicit
•Visualize relationships
•See patterns
•Identify linkages
Computer based
•Simulate interactions
•Try different scenarios
•Consistent
Linked to GIS
•Share data
•Common methodology
Test conceptual models
•Quantitative predictions
•Numerical experiments
A quantitative model allows us to make predictions, to test and improve  conceptual models.