The term geocomputation dates back to the first international conference on the topic in 1996 held at the University of Leeds under the title “The art and science of solving complex spatial problems with computers’. The term “geocomputation” was coined to describe the use of computer-intensive methods for knowledge discovery in physical and human geography. This new area distinguishes it from the application of statistical techniques to spatial data in the focus on “creative and experimental applications” and in “developing relevant geo-tools within the overall context of a ‘scientific’ approach.” Other authors reinforced the unique character of geocomputation as “to provide better solutions to many geographical problems by developing new, computationally dependent tools for analysis and modelling”. Simply defined, the interdisciplinary area of geocomputation was, from the beginning, closely linked to the application of computer technology and the development of tools and applications to real-world spatio-temporal problems through the combination of geographic information system techniques, spatial modelling, cellular automata, and other non-conventional data clustering and analysis techniques.
Even though geocomputation is still seeking to define the field conceptually), it is closely related to computational science, the use of high-computing performance, artificial intelligence, computational intelligence, grid infrastructure and parallel computing . Nevertheless, the evolution of new computing paradigms, such as edge-fog-cloud computing along with the new forms of data create new opportunities for the geocomputation community .
While the underlying idea remains intact --a diverse and interdisciplinary area of research that uses geospatial data, methods and tools for applied scientific work--, the current approach to geocomputation differs from the founders in that it focuses more attention on open science, reproducible research practices, and in a vibrant collaborative community to develop new methods, tools and applications that are integrated into multiple application domains such as economics, sociology, geodemography, health, criminology, transportation, biology, remote sensing and cities . The theoretical roots and experimental emphasis of geocomputation makes it an excellent vehicle to creatively explore in parallel the theory and practice of the use of geospatial data in a computational way to solve real-world problems.