Development of a web application based on MCDA and GIS for the decision support of river and floodplain rehabilitation projects

Rivers have been modified significantly during the last 200 years in Switzerland. These modifications were done for protection purposes (protection against floods), construction of hydropower plants, gain of land or other human activities. These artificial transformations have reduced, sometimes drastically, the natural dynamic of the rivers, which has reduced biodiversity, and has also increased the risk of flood. The awareness of the importance of river in a more natural state has conducted to a modification of the law on water protection in Switzerland (2011) and the rehabilitation of heavily affected rivers has now become a task that all cantons have to tackle. However the choice of which measures are the best to apply is not simple for decision makers who have to take into account multiple factors, but who are also confronted with different stakeholders who do not necessarily all share the same point of view (scientists, farmers, inhabitants, policy makers, ...) The present study has consisted of the development of a Web-GIS (geographic information systems) application to help decision makers in this task, by using the multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) method and by automating all the needed computations. Beside the MCDA computation, the production of maps is also a central functionality. To ensure the reliability of the result, a sensitivity analysis tool was added, which uses the Monte Carlo simulation technique. The application was developed using PHP, Javascript and Java, and by using open source libraries and softwares (for instance Geoserver, Geotools, MySQL,…). It was designed to let possible extensions be added easily, by using a modular approach to perform the different processes. The web application enables a fast and easy computation and enables each user to set his own preferences (including the weights of the different factors). A score for each alternative is given as result, as well as maps. The ease of sharing data and results is also a great advantage in projects such as river restorations, where multiple stakeholders' desires must be taken into account.Résumé Les rivières suisses ont été fortement modifiées durant les 200 dernières années. Ces modifications ont été faites pour diverses raisons, protection contre les crues, construction de centrales hydro-électriques, gain de terrain ou autres activités humaines. Ces transformations artificielles ont parfois réduit de manière drastique la dynamique naturelle des rivières, ce qui a fortement affecté la biodiversité, mais a également fait accroître le danger lors de crues. De nos jours la réhabilitation de rivières fortement modifiées est devenue une tâche à laquelle chaque canton doit s'atteler. Cependant le choix des mesures à prendre n'est pas aisé pour les décideurs, qui doivent prendre en compte de nombreux critères, mais sont également confrontés à divers groupes d'intérêt qui n'ont pas nécessairement le même point de vue (scientifiques, agriculteurs, habitants, politiciens, ...). La présente étude a consisté dans le développement d'une application web - sig (système d'information géographique) dans le but d'aider les décideurs dans cette tâche, en utilisant une méthode d'analyse multicritères d'aide à la décision (MCDA) et en automatisant tous les calculs nécessaires. A côté de l'analyse multicritères, la production et visualisation de cartes est aussi une fonctionnalité centrale. Pour s'assurer de la fiabilité des résultats, un outil d'analyse de sensibilité, utilisant une méthode de simulation (Monte Carlo), a été ajoutée. L'application a été développée en PHP, Java et Javascript, utilisant des outils open source (par exemple Geoserver, Geotools, MySQL, …) et laissant le champ ouvert à de possibles extensions par la modularisation des différents processus. L'application web permet une analyse multicritère simple et rapide, et permet à chaque utilisateur d'utiliser ses propres préférences dans le calcul (en donnant les poids de son choix aux différents critères). Un score pour chaque alternative est donné comme résultat, ainsi que des cartes. La facilité d'échange de données et de résultats qu'offre une application web, est aussi un grand avantage dans un projet tel que la restauration d'une rivière, où de multiple groupes d'intérêts doivent être pris en compte.Rivers have been modified significantly during the last 200 years in Switzerland. These modifications were done for protection purposes (protection against floods), construction of hydropower plants, gain of land or other human activities. These artificial transformations have reduced, sometimes drastically, the natural dynamic of the rivers, which has reduced biodiversity, and has also increased the risk of flood. The awareness of the importance of river in a more natural state has conducted to a modification of the law on water protection in Switzerland (2011) and the rehabilitation of heavily affected rivers has now become a task that all cantons have to tackle. However the choice of which measures are the best to apply is not simple for decision makers who have to take into account multiple factors, but who are also confronted with different stakeholders who do not necessarily all share the same point of view (scientists, farmers, inhabitants, policy makers, ...) The present study has consisted of the development of a Web-GIS (geographic information systems) application to help decision makers in this task, by using the multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) method and by automating all the needed computations. Beside the MCDA computation, the production of maps is also a central functionality. To ensure the reliability of the result, a sensitivity analysis tool was added, which uses the Monte Carlo simulation technique. The application was developed using open source libraries and softwares and was designed to let possible extensions be added easily, by using a modular approach to perform the different processes. The web application enables a fast and easy computation and enables each user to set his own preferences (including the weights of the different factors). A score for each alternative is given as result, as well as maps. The ease of sharing data and results is also a great advantage in projects such as river restorations, where multiple stakeholders' desires must be taken into account

Estudos de impacte ambiental em infraestruturas rodoviárias com recurso a tecnologia SIG e avaliação multicritério

O Estudo de Impacte Ambiental (EIA) é uma peça fundamental no processo de Avaliação Ambiental a que têm de ser submetidos alguns projetos de engenharia. Este é o resultado de atividades e avaliações metodológicas conducentes a identificar/avaliar possíveis impactes, apresentando medidas de minimização e o plano de monitorização. Se existirem múltiplas alternativas, o EIA deve indicar a “ambientalmente mais favorável”. O presente trabalho apresenta uma proposta metodológica para apoio dessas atividades/avaliações, tendo como estrutura integradora um SIG ligado a modelos externos específicos, constituindo -se assim como uma contribuição para o desenvolvimento de um SADE -MC, no domínio ambiental. Essa proposta engloba a conceção duma rotina interativa, em Visual Basic® para suportar os processos de Screening/Scoping, Avaliação da Significância e Seleção dos Indicadores Ambientais. As funcionalidades do SIG, associadas aos módulos externos, são usadas para prever/quantificar os impactes e os indicadores ambientais. Estes indicadores são então utilizados como critérios, no módulo de avaliação multicritério que utiliza, nesta aplicação, o método ELECTRE III. Isso permite apresentar uma preordenação final das alternativas, desde a “ambientalmente mais favorável” até à mais adversa. Como caso de estudo, essa proposta metodológica é aplicada a um EIA referente ao projeto de um troço de autoestrada no Centro de Portugal.The Environmental Impact Study (EIS) is a key formal document in the Portuguese Environmental Assessment context procedure, which is required for an engineering project. This is the outcome of several methodological evaluation assessments and activities undertaken towards the identification of environmental impacts. It should present the mitigation measures and the monitoring plan. If there are several alternatives, the “most -environmental -friendly” should be indicated. This work proposes a methodology to support the Assessment procedure above in a GIS integrating environment. This combination of GIS standard functionalities with the implementation of specific external models constitutes a relevant contribution towards the development of a specific SDSS -MC in the environmental domain. The methodology includes the design of an interactive routine developed in Visual Basic in order to support the Screening/ Scoping, the Significance Evaluation, and Selection of the Environmental Indicators. The GIS functionalities are used to predict impacts and measure related indicators that are used as criteria, within the multicriteria analysis module, based on the ELECTRE III method. This will provide the user with a sorted list of possible alternatives, from the “most -environmental - friendly” down to the least. The methodology was applied to the case study of a motorway in the west -center of Portugal.Este trabalho foi parcialmente financiado pela Fundação Portuguesa para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) sob a Refa “PEst-OE/ EEI/UI308/2014”, pelo projeto Energy and Mobility for Sustainable Regions (EMSURE) - Refa CENTRO-07-0224-FEDER -002004, e enquadra -se na iniciativa Energy for Sustainability da Universidade de Coimbra

Mapping forest landscape multifunctionality using multicriteria spatial analysis.

This paper presents a GIS methodological approach for mapping forest landscape multifunctionality. The aims of the present study were: (1) to integrate and prioritize production and protection functions by multicriteria spatial analysis using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP); and (2) to produce a multifunctionality map (e.g., production, protection, conservation and recreation) for a forest management unit. For this, a study area in inner Portugal occupied by forest and with an important protection area was selected. Based on maps for functions identified in the study area, it was possible to improve the scenic value and the biodiversity of the landscape to mitigate fire hazard and to diversify goods and services. The developed methodology is a key tool for producing maps for decision making support in integrated landscape planning and forest management.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Bibliyometrik Analiz Yöntemi Üzerinden Yer Seçimi ile İlgili Karar Destek Sistemi Yöntemlerinin İncelenmesi

Günümüz kentleri, Sanayi Devrimin’den bu yana ticaret, sanayi, kültür ve sanat, eğitim gibi aktivitelerin merkezi haline gelmiştir. Bu hızlı gelişim ve dönüşüm ile birlikte birçok planlama sorunu ortaya çıkmakta, bir yandan göç alarak kalabalıklaşıp büyüyen kentler bir yandan da zorlu yaşam alanları haline gelmektedir. Bu sorunların çözümünde kullanılan geleneksel yöntemler, kişisel fikirlere dayandığı ve kullanıcı ya da çevre verilerini sistematik olarak dikkate almadıkları için genellikle anlık olarak sorunları çözmekte, işletmede veya kullanımda kısa ve uzun vadede sorunlara neden olabilmektedir. Diğer taraftan dünya genelinde kullanımı artmakta olan karar destek sistemlerinin, yaşadığımız kentlerin planlanmasında kullanılmalarıyla birlikte, daha analitik ve veri odaklı bir yaklaşım sunularak kentlerde oluşan anlık planlama sorunlarının önüne geçilebildiği görülmektedir. Çalışma kapsamında ele alınan Balıkesir kent merkezinde ki raylı sistem, kentlerde yaşanan bu hızlı gelişim ve dönüşüm ile birlikte günümüzde bir planlama sorunu olarak karşımıza çıkmaktadır. Mevcut kent merkezinde bir bariyer etkisi oluşturan raylı sitemin hafif raylı sisteme dönüştürülmesine yönelik 2014-2023 Güney Marmara Bölge Planı kapsamında iki aşamalı olarak bir planlama yapılmıştır. Ancak planlama kapsamında belirlenmiş olan istasyon noktalarının geleneksel yöntemlerle sübjektif kararlara dayalı bir şekilde tespit edilmiş olduğu anlaşılmaktadır. Sunulan bu çalışmada ise böylesi bir dönüşümün planlamasında geleneksel yöntemler yerine karar destek sistemlerinden yararlanılmasının önemine vurgu yapılarak, süreç boyunca özellikle hafif raylı sistemin verimli bir şekilde işlemesi için büyük önem taşıyan istasyon yerlerinin tespiti aşamasında hangi karar destek sistemlerinden yararlanılabileceği sorusuna odaklanılmıştır. Literatürde yer tespiti sorunlarında kullanılan karar destek sistemi yöntemlerini incelemek için, bir bilim dalıyla ilgili çalışmaların mevcut durumunu, yönelimini ve gelişimini ortaya koymakta kullanılan ve verileri sınıflandırarak onları daha iyi analiz etme ve ihtiyaç duyulan doğru, güvenilir ve yeterli bilgiye ulaşma imkanı sağlayan bibliyometrik analiz yönteminden faydalanılmıştır. Bu yöntem ile gerçekleştirilen analizlerde örneklem alanı olarak, yaygın bir kullanımı bulunan ve birçok farklı akademik disiplinde oldukça geniş bir veri içeriği sunan, Web of Science veri tabanı kullanılmıştır. Verilerin analiz edilmesi aşamasında ise ücretsiz erişim imkânı ve kolay bir arayüze sahip VosViewer yazılımından yararlanılmıştır. Gerçekleştirilen analizler sonucunda, yer seçimi ile ilgili uluslar arası literatür içerisinde büyük çoğunlukla GIS tekniklerinin ve çok kriterli karar verme (MCDM) yaklaşımlarının kullanıldığı tespit edilmiştir. Literatürdeki çalışmalar üzerinden yapılan bu tespitlerle, geliştirilecek olan yöntem ile çalışabilecek karar destek sisteminin seçimine katkı sağlanmıştır

Framework for a spatial Decision Support Tool for policy and decision making

The main challenge of developing of a spatial DST (Decision Support Tool) to support the decision making on future livestock production will not be a technical one, but instead a challenge of meeting the con-text requirements of the tool, such as the characteristics of the country-specific spatial plan-ning and decision-making process, the wishes of the potential users of the tool and its output as well as the country-specific policies and regulations. The spatial DST which is being pro-posed in this report therefore does not include complex and state-of-the-art GIS techniques, but instead tries to be as clear and simple as possible, in order to give the potential users a full understanding during the analysis process and with using the output of the tool. A spatial DST can easily become a ‘black box’ if the users do not fully understand the limita-tions of the tool and its output. Despite the fact that output maps of GIS systems may look very detailed and suggest a high degree of accuracy, they are often not. This will entirely de-pend on the availability of reliable and detailed input data. Most likely, many of the produced output maps should be used in an indicative way only. Therefore, the output of the spatial DST needs to be accompanied by supporting information on the reliability of the output and the shortcomings due to unreliable or missing input data, as well as the consequences for use of the output. Therefore, a comprehensive meta-data assessment system is proposed as an in-tegrated part of the spatial DST. The distribution of the output will also require tools to pro-duce more sketch-like presentations, e.g. using fuzzy borders and aggregated maps, which are another important feature of the spatial DST

A case study of the Zambezi river valley in Mozambique

Geographic information systems give us the possibility to analyze, produce, and edit geographic information. Furthermore, these systems fall short on the analysis and support of complex spatial problems. Therefore, when a spatial problem, like land use management, requires a multi-criteria perspective, multi-criteria decision analysis is placed into spatial decision support systems. The analytic hierarchy process is one of many multi-criteria decision analysis methods that can be used to support these complex problems. Using its capabilities we try to develop a spatial decision support system, to help land use management. Land use management can undertake a broad spectrum of spatial decision problems. The developed decision support system had to accept as input, various formats and types of data, raster or vector format, and the vector could be polygon line or point type. The support system was designed to perform its analysis for the Zambezi river Valley in Mozambique, the study area. The possible solutions for the emerging problems had to cover the entire region. This required the system to process large sets of data, and constantly adjust to new problems’ needs. The developed decision support system, is able to process thousands of alternatives using the analytical hierarchy process, and produce an output suitability map for the problems faced

Geosimulation and Multicriteria Modelling of Residential Land Development in the City of Tehran: A Comparative Analysis of Global and Local Models

Conventional models for simulating land-use patterns are insufficient in addressing complex dynamics of urban systems. A new generation of urban models, inspired by research on cellular automata and multi-agent systems, has been proposed to address the drawbacks of conventional modelling. This new generation of urban models is called geosimulation. Geosimulation attempts to model macro-scale patterns using micro-scale urban entities such as vehicles, homeowners, and households. The urban entities are represented by agents in the geosimulation modelling. Each type of agents has different preferences and priorities and shows different behaviours. In the land-use modelling context, the behaviour of agents is their ability to evaluate the suitability of parcels of land using a number of factors (criteria and constraints), and choose the best land(s) for a specific purpose. Multicriteria analysis provides a set of methods and procedures that can be used in the geosimulation modelling to describe the behaviours of agents. There are three main objectives of this research. First, a framework for integrating multicriteria models into geosimulation procedures is developed to simulate residential development in the City of Tehran. Specifically, the local form of multicriteria models is used as a method for modelling agents’ behaviours. Second, the framework is tested in the context of residential land development in Tehran between 1996 and 2006. The empirical research is focused on identifying the spatial patterns of land suitability for residential development taking into account the preferences of three groups of actors (agents): households, developers, and local authorities. Third, a comparative analysis of the results of the geosimulation-multicriteria models is performed. A number of global and local geosimulation-multicriteria models (scenarios) of residential development in Tehran are defined and then the results obtained by the scenarios are evaluated and examined. The output of each geosimulation-multicriteria model is compared to the results of other models and to the actual pattern of land-use in Tehran. The analysis is focused on comparing the results of the local and global geosimulation-multicriteria models. Accuracy measures and spatial metrics are used in the comparative analysis. The results suggest that, in general, the local geosimulation-multicriteria models perform better than the global methods