A Gis approach to fire station location selection

Abstract

Location science has a long historical background and the literature of location selection has expanded since it attracts much interest from researchers. As a result of many studies the location science can be classified into several sub-categories; one of which is locating emergency facilities. The determination of locating fire stations is a crucial decision for metropolitans. Reducing response time, maximizing coverage and minimizing the total cost are the most important objectives for selecting the proper location. Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is important since it gives an opportunity to study on maps and to have coverage matrices which show the service areas in terms of binary integers and an attractiveness matrix which shows total values of closeness to main roads, residential areas, important buildings and so on. Fire stations have to be located carefully; in an emergency situation the fire department should be able to reach its destination within 5 minutes. Hence, the coverage matrix is very important for defining the potential of alternative locations. Mathematical model is based on the coverage and attractiveness matrices with the objectives of reducing response time, maximizing coverage and the minimizing the total cost. Taking the increasing population and traffic jam and the location in the earthquake zone into consideration, the fire stations have to be found at the most appropriate location in Istanbul to facilitate the arrival at the scene as fast as possible. This paper presents a decision support system approach for locating the fire stations via the geodatabase of Kadikoy district in GIS. In this study, GIS analysis and multi-objective mathematical model were used to consider the opportunities and the threats with strong and weak sides of the possible locations. © Gi4DM 2011 - GeoInformation for Disaster Management.All right reserved.