A Multi-Criteria Modular and Flexible decision aid tool for Landfill Siting using GIS

摘要

Landfill siting requires processing a large amount of spatial data coupled with regulatory and acceptance criteria. Siting criteria are usually defined using restrictions related to land use, geology, political and administrative boundaries, watercourses, roads, etc. However, these criteria do not usually tackle all parameters, and their choice differs from a country to another based on local experience and standards. The manual processing of these data for related siting analyses is tedious and time consuming. This paper illustrates the creation of a new visual basic application built within a geographic information system (GIS) framework to automate and ease the siting procedure involving the use of multiple GIS capabilities to analyze the various spatial relationships. A coherent set of criteria for siting landfills was developed and a robust straight-forward methodology was established for analyzing the data in a relatively quick and reliable manner. The methodology involves a primary screening and a detailed and site-specific evaluation.