Multi-criteria decision making and geographical information systems : an extension for ArcView

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) is a set of techniques designed specifically for the analysisof complex problems. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) focus on spatial problem-solvingand spatial analysis. The integration of these methodologies offers a powerful approach to decisionmaking. Despite the fact that most spatial decision problems are multi-criteria problems by nature,the process of MCDM is not well established or effectively integrated into the field of spatialanalysis and GIS.This research focuses on bridging the gap between MCDM and GIS. To this end, a generic MCDMextension was designed and implemented in ArcView. As a result, a first version MCDM extensionis offered. The extension expands ArcView's functionality with a limited set of MCDM methods.This functionality is illustrated on two problems involved with developing the tourism potential atCoutada 16 Wildlife Reserve in Mozambique.The MCDM extension facilitates procedures that allow the evaluation of spatial problems andincludes the ability to deal with both raster and vector data. This system offers a generic problemsolvingenvironment, which can be used to evaluate geographical problems of any nature. Thisresearch identifies a number of improvements to the developed functionality and successfullyillustrates the potential problem-solving capabilities associated with MCDM integrated withArcView.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University