A Decision support system for shelter site selection with GIS intergration : case for Turkey

Abstract

In this study, a methodology for locating shelter sites after a disaster is developed. Currently, in Turkey, Turkish Red Crescent is responsible for selecting the location of shelter areas. First, they identify the candidate shelter site locations. Then, they rank those locations by using a weighted average function composed of eleven criteria and whenever there is an emergency, they utilize the locations with the highest ranking until there is enough space to house the affected population. To improve Turkish Red Crescent’s methodology, a mathematical model that selects the best possible combination of shelter sites from a set of candidate locations, controls the utilization of those sites and assigns every district to its closest shelter site is developed. The mathematical model is implemented with a decision support system. The decision support system, which is developed in C#, is an ArcGIS extension that uses Gurobi optimization software. With the decision support system, the user is able to solve the problem, obtain an initial solution, edit the solution and view the solution on the map that is generated by ArcGIS. To test the model with a greater data set, a sample data based on the Asian side of Istanbul is used.