Spatial Decision Support System

By
Dr.Umair bin Zamir

What is Spatial Decision Support System

Lets Discuss Spatial

Spatial is relating to Space.

For eg. Spatial distribution of

Population

Spatial distribution of

Crimes

Spatial distribution of

Diseases

Spatial distribution of

Languages

Spatial distribution of

Religions

Spatial distribution of

Fauna

Spatial distribution of

Flora

Lets Discuss Decision

Decision is a conclusion or resolution reached after consideration

OR
The action or process of deciding something or of resolving a question
OR

The ability or tendency to make decisions quickly; decisiveness

Lets Discuss Support System

Support System Formal or informal network of

goods, services, personnel, and organizations that
sustains an entity in its survival and growth.
OR
A set of things working together as parts of a mechanism
or an interconnecting network; a complex whole
OR
A set of principles or procedures according to which
something is done; an organized scheme or method

Now What is Spatial Decision Support System

A spatial decision support system (SDSS) is an interactive, computer-based system

designed to assist in decision making while solving a semi-structured spatial

problem. It is designed to assist the spatial planner with guidance in making land use
decisions.

Course Outline

Decision Support System

Decision Support Systems (DSS) are a class of computerized
information system that support decision-making activities. DSS
are interactive computer-based systems and subsystems intended
to help decision makers use communications technologies, data,
documents, knowledge and/or models to complete decision
process tasks.
A decision support system may present information graphically and
may include an expert system or artificial intelligence (AI). It may be
aimed at business executives or some other group of knowledge
workers.

Typical information that a decision support application might gather and present would be

Accessing all information assets, including legacy and relational data sources.

Comparative data figures

Projected figures based on new data or assumptions

Consequences of different decision alternatives, given past experience in a specific context

Taxonomy of Decision Support System

There are a number of Decision Support Systems. These can be categorized into five types:

Communication-driven DSS
Data-driven DSS
Document-driven DSS
Knowledge-driven DSS
Model-driven DSS

 Communication-driven DSS
A C-D DSS is a type of DSS that enhances decision-making by enabling communication and
sharing of information between groups of people. At its most basic level a C-D DSS could be a

simple threaded e-mail. At its most complex it could be a web-conferencing application or

interactive video.

Communication-Driven DSS will exhibit at least one of the following characteristics:

Supports coordination and collaboration between two or more people;
Facilitates information sharing;
Enables communication between groups of people;
Supports group decisions.

Data-driven DSS
Data-driven DSS are a form of support system that focuses on the provision of internal (and
sometimes external) data to aid decision making. Most often this will come in the form of a
data warehouse a database designed to store data in such a way as to allow for its querying
and analysis by users.
Another example of a data-driven DSS would be a Geographic Information System (GIS), which
can be used to visually represent geographically dependent data using maps.

Document-driven DSS
Document-driven DSS are support systems designed to convert documents into valuable business data.
While data-driven DSS rely on data that is already in a standardized format that lends itself to database
storage and analysis, document-driven DSS makes use of data that cannot easily be standardized and
stored. The three primary forms of data used in document driven DSS are:
Oral (i.e. transcribed conversations);
Written (i.e. reports, memos, e-mail and other correspondence);
Video (i.e. TV commercials and news reports).
None of these formats lend themselves easily to standardized database storage and analysis, so managers
require DSS tools to convert them into data that can be valuable in the decision making process.
Document-driven DSS is the newest field of study in Decision Support Systems. Examples of documentdriven tools can be found in Internet search engines, designed to sift through vast volumes of unsorted
data through the use of keyword searches.

Knowledge-driven DSS

Knowledge-driven DSS are systems designed to recommend actions to users. Typically,

knowledge-driven systems are designed to sift through large volumes of data, identify hidden
patterns in that data and present recommendations based on those patterns.
Knowledge-driven DSS can store and apply knowledge for a variety of specific problems/tasks
that would otherwise be resolved by a human expert. The generic tasks include classification,
configuration, diagnosis, interpretation, planning and prediction.

Model-driven DSS
Model-driven support systems incorporate the ability to manipulate data to generate

statistical and financial reports, as well as simulation models, to aid decision-makers. Modelbased decision support systems can be extremely useful in forecasting the effects of changes
in business processes, as they can use past data to answer complex what-if questions for
decision makers.
In general, model-driven DSS use more complex models, e.g., accounting, optimization and

simulation, to provide decision support. In most implementations, model-driven DSS use the
data and parameters provided by a decision maker to help in analyzing a situation.

In addition to these basic types of DSS there are also two additional factors: whether the DSS

is spreadsheet-based, web-based or something else entirely.

Spreadsheet-based DSS
Model- and Data-driven DS systems can be built using spreadsheets. Spreadsheets offer
decision-makers easy to understand representations of large amounts of data. Additionally,
spreadsheet data is arranged in such a way as to make it easy to convert the data into
visualizations to further aid decision-makers.
* Web-based DSS

Any type of DSS can be web-based. The term simply describes any decision support system

that is operated through the interface of a web browser, even if the data used for decision
support remains confined to a legacy system such as a data warehouse.

Scope of DSS
In addition to these basic types of Decision Support System there are also two separate
categories used to define systems.
* Enterprise-wide DSS
Enterprise-wide DS systems are systems that are linked into large data warehouses, and offer
decision support to managers at all levels of an enterprise. Enterprise-wide systems will
typically be basic, general use systems that can perform a wide variety of functions.
* Desktop DSS
Desktop DS systems are much smaller applications designed to be run from a desktop PC.
While these systems may well be linked into a data warehouse or other large volume of data,
they will typically be more limited in scope.
An example of a desktop DSS is Microsoft Excel, the desktop spreadsheet application.

Historical Background
Decision Support System (DSS) based on work by Herbert A. Simon in
1950s and 1960s (Simon 1960);

DSS evolved during the 1970s and 80s

SDSS concept has evolved in parallel
IBM's Geodata Analysis and Display System 1970s earliest large DSS

SDSS has been associated with the need to expand the GIS capabilities for
complex, ill-defined, spatial decision problems
Major growth in research, development, and applications of SDSS in the

last 10 years
Many threads with different, but related names, such as collaborative
SDSS, group SDSS, environmental DSS, spatial knowledge based and expert
systems, PPGIS

The Decision-making Process

Simon divides any decision-making process into the
phases of decision-making
intelligence - is there a problem or an opportunity
for change?
design - what are the decision alternatives?
choice - which alternative is best?

Simons Model

Planning Stages

Problems
Goals
Objectives
Alternatives
Evaluations
Choice
Implementation
Monitoring

Planning Methods

SWOT
(Strength, weakness, opportunities threats)
Bargaining
Brainstorming
Scenario writing
Consensus building
Public meeting support
Charrette
Consultants
Stakeholder involvement
Outreach

Decision Making Process

Characteristics of SDSS
1.

Designed to solve ill- or semi-structured problems, i.e. where

objectives cannot be fully or precisely defined

2.

Have an interface that is both powerful and easy to use.

3.

Enable the user to combine models and data in a flexible manner.

4.

Help the user explore the solution space (the options available to
them) by using the models in the system to generate a series of
feasible alternatives

5. Support a variety of decision-making styles, and easily

adapted to provide new capabilities as the needs of the

user evolve .

6. Problem solving is an interactive and recursive process in

which decision making proceeds by multiple passes,

perhaps involving different routes, rather than a single

linear path

These characteristics also define a SDSS

In addition, in order to effectively support
decision- making for complex spatial problems, a
SDSS will need to: provide for spatial data input
allow storage of complex structures common in
spatial data

include analytical techniques that are unique to

spatial analysis
provide output in the form of maps and other
spatial forms

Spatial decision making

many spatial problems are complex and
require the use of analysis and models
many spatial problems are semi-structured or
ill-defined because all of their aspects cannot
be measured or modeled

Example: site selection for a retail store

objective is to pick the site which will maximize economic return to the company
return is affected by:
number of potential customers within market area
accessibility of the site (e.g. is it on a main street? is it possible to turn left into the site?)
visibility, signage, appearance
cost of site and construction
some of these factors are difficult to evaluate or predict
relative impacts of each of these factors on return may be unknown (except the last - direct
cost)
impossible to structure the problem completely - i.e. define and precisely measure the
objective for every possible solution
retail site selection problem is ill-structured
a system to support retail site selection must be flexible allow new factors to be introduced
o allow the relative importance of factors to be changed to evaluate sensitivity or to reflect
differences of opinion
display results of analysis in informative ways

 solutions to this class of problems often are obtained by generating

a set of alternatives and selecting from among those that appear to
be viable
thus, the decision-making process is iterative, integrative and
participative iterative because a set of alternative solutions is
generated which the decision-maker evaluates, and insights gained
are input to, and used to define, further analyses
participative because the decision-maker plays an active role in
defining the problem, carrying out analyses and evaluating the
outcomes
integrative because value judgements that materially affect the
final outcome are made by decision-makers who have expert
knowledge that must be integrated with the quantitative data in the
models

SDSS ARCHITECTURE
Armstrong and Densham (1990) suggest that
five key modules are needed in a SDSS:
a database management system (DBMS)
analysis procedures in a model base
management system (MBMS)
display generator
a report generator
a user interface