Enhancing Web-Spatial DSS interactivity with parallel computing: The case of bio-energy economic assessment in Greece

A web based Spatial Decision Support System (web SDSS) has been implemented in Thessaly, the most significant arable cropping region in Greece, in order to evaluate selected energy crop supply. The web SDSS uses an optimization module to support the decision process, incorporating user input from the web user interface then launching mathematical programming profit maximizing farm models. Energy to biomass raw material cost is provided in supply curve form incorporating physical land suitability for crops, farm structure and Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) scenarios. In order to generate biomass supply curves the optimization problem is parametrically solved for a number of steps within a price range determined by the user. The more advanced technique used to solve the MP model, the higher the delay of response to the user. We are examining how effectively we can reduce the web SDSS response time to the user requests using parallel solving of the corresponding optimization problem. The results are encouraging, as the total solution time drops significantly as the problem’s size is increased, improving the users’ experience.