Locational Analysis of Filling Stations in Portharcourt Local Government Area, River State, Nigeria Using GIS Approach

Abstract

The rapid growth of urbanization has created greater demand for vehicles, which results in more fuel consumption and has given rise to the establishment of filling stations in other to satisfy those needs. A petrol filling station is important but meanwhile it is a hazardous facility, so special attention is paid on its location. The paper is aimed at location analysis of filling stations in Port Harcourt local government area of rivers state using GIS approach through acquisition of primary and secondary datasets of the study area, creation of a functional spatial database and spatial attribute queries that will aid in the location analysis of filling stations in compliance with petroleum safety rules and regulations. The result shows that About 7 filling stations were located close to residential buildings, 14 out of 38 filling stations do not have adequate fire extinguishers, 14 filling stations have its pumping machine close to the road and 15 filling station lie in electricity high tension right of way. It is recommended that the regulating bodies should frequently inspect these filling stations to ensure that all the safety measures are properly observed and equipments are put in place