ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the techniques and methods for spatial multicriteria decision making; and provides a framework for spatial multicriteria decision analysis. Decision analysis is a set of systematic procedures for analyzing complex decision problems. Spatial multicriteria decision analysis can be thought of as a process that combines and transforms spatial and aspatial data into a resultant decision. The process of generating decision alternatives should be based on the value-structure and be related to the set of evaluation criteria. Decision alternatives are the alternative courses of action among which the decision maker must choose. Each spatial decision alternative consists of at least two basic elements: action and location. The value/utility function approaches focus on the decision maker’s preferences in criterion space and fail to analyze the decision-maker’s perception of alternative spatial patterns in decision space. Spatial multicriteria analysis represents a significant departure form the conventional multi-criteria decision making techniques because of its explicit geographic component.
