Multi-Criteria Decision-based Model for Road Network Process

This paper addresses a multi-criteria decision based methodology to develop a road network cost function for route finding analysis in a Geographic Information System (GIS). Over the years, several studies relating to route planning process in GIS and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) have been conducted, most of which rely on the use of one-dimensional variables like distance or time as a cost function. This paper, in contrast, investigates multi-dimensional variables to define the cost function using a multi- criteria decision making approach. To this end, first additional realistic variables which have quantitative as well as qualitative characteristics are taken into account. These include climate, sight-seeing information, road type, and so on. Second, they are combined using a Multi-Dimensional Cost Model (MDCM) using the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP). The models developed were implemented and closely evaluated in northern parts of Iran. The resulting routs showed to be more accurate than those obtained utilizing one-dimensional cost functions.