Siting a landfill typically requires processing a significant amount of spatial data with respect to various siting rules, regulations, factors, and constraints. Manually performing such a spatial analysis with drawing tools is generally tedious. A modem geographical information system (GIS), although capable of manipulating spatial data to facilitate the analysis, lacks the ability to locate an optimal site when compactness and other factors are simultaneously considered. An appropriate siting model was therefore explored for use with a raster-based GIS. A mixed-integer programming model was developed to obtain a site with optimal compactness. A comparison was made between the model and two other previously proposed models in terms of their applicability and simplicity for raster-based data. The compactness model was further extended to include multiple siting factors with weights determined using map layer analysis functions provided by a GIS. This multifactor model was applied to analyze the effects of varied weights and factors on making a siting decision.

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A prototypical network expert geographic information system (GIS) is developed to facilitate municipal solid waste landfill siting. A forward chaining knowledge base consisting of related siting rules extracted from various lit~rature is used to establish an expert system. Siting analysis is performed by a GIS and evaluated by rules triggered from the expert system. The expert system and GIS are integrated into an expert GIS to combine the advantages of both systems. Also, a multimedia network interface is designed for loca~or rem?te access to the system from anywhere on the Internet. With the interface, a general user does not reqUlr~p~evlOus knowledge of the ex~~sy~tem and GIS to use the system. This networking capability not only slgmficantly reduces the cost of dlstnbuting tools to each user, but also avoids the difficulty that each user may encounter in installing and managing tools on the computer. Finally, a case study is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed system in facilitating landfill-siting analysis. The system can be directly accessed via Internet from the home page http://evOO4.ev.nctu.edu.twIENGLISHlwsite/index.html.