INTEGRATION OF GIS-BASED SUITABILITY ANALYSIS AND MULTICRITERIA EVALUATION IN A SPATIAL DECISION-SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR ROUTE SELECTION

Land suitability mapping techniques and geographic information systems (GIS) have been used in the last decade to assist planners in route s election problems. These techniques, though robust in translating phys ical constraints into feasible alternatives for route location, are we ak in incorporating the decisionmaker's preferences, and, hence, are o f limited use for decision support. The decisionmaking process that fo llows a route location study can be supported by multicriteria evaluat ion techniques that incorporate decisionmakers' preferences. This pape r presents an approach to integrating a GIS-based land suitability ana lysis and multicriteria evaluation in a spatial decision support syste m for route selection. The design and implementation of the system are presented together with an example of system application to a study o f the route selection for a water transmission supply line.