Multi-Criteria Spatial Decision Support System DECERNS

Abstract

<jats:p>Land-use planning and environmental management often requires an implementation of both geo- spatial information analysis and value-driven criteria within the decision-making process. DECERNS (Decision Evaluation in Complex Risk Network Systems) is a web-based distributed decision support system for multi-criteria analysis of a wide range of spatially-explicit land management alternatives. It integrates mainly basic and some advanced GIS functions and implements several Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methods and tools. DECERNS can also be integrated with a model server containing generic and site specific models for in-depth analysis of project and environmental risks as well as other decision criteria under consideration. This paper provides an overview of the modeling approaches as well as methods and tools used in DECERNS. Application of the DECERNS WebSDSS (Web-based Spatial Decision Support System) for a housing site selection case study is presented.</jats:p>

Decerns: A Framework for Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis

“…Both systems are capable of analysis of various problems on risk management and land-use planning [20,26] . DecernsMCDA methods and tools allow for an effective implementation of the MCDA process within a multicriteria decision problem in accordance with the scheme of Fig.1.…”

“…More than 10 topical problems on risk management, including risk-based environmental protection and sediment management, restoration of contaminated sites, choice of nanotechnologies and others have been considered in [64] based on the Decerns software with the use of different MCDA methods. This section presents an application of several MCDA methods, included in DecernsMCDA, for analysis of the case study on housing development [20] in a region of Russia that has contaminated land from the Chernobyl accident [65] .…”

“…The general approach to creating SDSSs based on integrating GIS and MCDA functions and decision rules has been presented in publications [11][12][13][14][15][16] . The history and methodology of SDSSs development and examples of their practical implementation has also been discussed in [4,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] .…”

“…In fact, this is an example of the "Alternatives-based approach" for multicriteria problem analysis [1] : several alternatives are presented for consideration, and then the criteria are selected for their analysis (e.g., for ranking alternatives or choosing the "best" one). In other cases, however, the "Criterion based approach" can be implemented [1] in a manner where the criteria are considered for reaching the goal(s), and then alternatives are formed (e.g., several criteria are considered for analysis of a location problem, and then suitable alternatives for choosing the "best" one are formed [20] ). Based upon these comments, the bars "Setting Criteria" and "Setting Alternatives" are placed on the same level to correspond to the general case.…”

“…The main goal of this project was development of the models and computer tools for decision-making support on risk management and landuse planning problems within remediation of contaminated territories [25] . An early prototype of the Decerns system, DECERNS SDSS, was implemented for multicriteria decision analysis on land-use planning and risk management with the use of GIS-functions and one MCDA method [20,26] . Based on the Decerns framework, a desktop system (cross-platform software) DecernsMCDA for multicriteria analysis of various scientific and practical problems on choosing, ranking, and sorting alternatives with the possibility to implement different MCDA methods has been developed (section 5).…”