Original Research Article

Application of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for locating fire stations: Case Study Maku City

Alireza Arabameri

PhD Student of Geomorpholog, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Geography, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

E-mail: alireza.ameri91@yahoo.com

Accepted January 20, 2014

Abstract

Decision making problem is the process of finding the best option from all of the feasible alternatives. In almost all such problems the multiplicity of criteria for judging the alternatives is pervasive. That is, for many such problems, the decision maker wants to solve a multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) problem. A survey of the MCDM methods has been presented by Hwang and Yoon. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is one of the extensively used multi-criteria decision-making methods One of the main advantages of this method is the relative ease with which it handles multiple criteria. In addition to this, AHP is easier to understand and it can effectively handle both qualitative and quantitative data. The use of AHP does not involve cumbersome mathematics. AHP involves the principles of decomposition, pair wise comparisons, and priority vector generation and synthesis. Though the purpose of AHP is to capture the expert’s knowledge. In the present research, combination of indexing system Method with Analytical Hierarchy Process has been applied to assess locating Fire stations. By this process, classification and qualification of the numerous types of regions would be accessible The findings of the research show that Region 2 with (0/352) point promotes in first rank among 5 studied Regions and thus it is the most appropriate Region , in contrast Region 5 with (0/112) point goes down to the last rank. Regions (1, 3, 4) with (0/191,0/171, 0/170) points are located in next ranks

Keywords: Analytic Hierarchy Process, Location, Fire stations, Maku.