An algebra for multicriteria spatial modeling

The objective of this paper is to propose a new algebra, called decision map algebra (DMA), especially devoted to multicriteria spatial modeling. DMA is a generic and context-independent modeling language inspired from map algebra and other similar languages. It supports the conventional geometric objects and cartographic maps and adds a rich set of new operands representing different spatial multicriteria concepts. Moreover, DMA supports different conventional map algebra-like operations and adds several new ones corresponding to different spatial multicriteria evaluation functions. The proposed algebra is the first step towards the development of a generic spatial multicriteria modeling language. 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.