AN EFFICIENT SEARCH STRATEGY FOR SITE-SELECTION DECISIONS IN AN EXPERT-SYSTEM

This paper describes an algorithm for spatial search, which is used in an expert system for site selection. The algorithm, named ProfMat, is able to find the best site in the area of interest even when the numb er of possible sites is large and many decision criteria are involved. Compared to commonly used search procedures, ProfMat improves the eff iciency of spatial search in two ways. First, the best site is identif ied through an iterative rather than a linear process of selection and evaluation of optional sites. Second, an area is searched by narrowin g down the focus to increasingly smaller areas and, thus, sites are ev aluated as much as possible groupwise. The ProfMat procedure is illust rated by analyzing the problem of retail sits selection. A comparison with alternative search procedures shows that ProfMat considerably red uces the evaluation costs needed to find the best site. The implementa tion of the algorithm in an expert system shows how ProfMat can. be us ed in combination with specialist's knowledge to solve site-selection problems. The efficiency of the procedure allows considering large set s of optional sites, so that it may improve the quality of the outcome .