Multi-Criteria Spatial Decision Support System DECERNS: Application to Land Use Planning

Land-use planning and environmental management often requires an implementation of both geospatial 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.