Enhanced spatial model for landfill siting analysis

A landfill siting analysis typically requires evaluating various rules, factors, constraints, and numerous spatial data. A modern geographical information system, although capable of rapidly processing a massive amount of spatial data, lacks the ability to locate an optimal site when compactness and other factors are simultaneously evaluated. A previously developed grid-based model could not be applied to resolve this inability for irregularly shaped spatial data. Therefore, an enhanced spatial siting model is proposed herein for general spatial data. A compactness index is applied to ensure the integrity of selected sites. Two case studies are presented to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed model. The proposed model and two models developed previously are compared in the first case study based on the single factor of land cost. A single factor model is perhaps quite unacceptable with respect to other factors. The second case study is thus presented to demonstrate the flexibility of the model for considering additional factors, land slope, and road network accessibility. Moreover, results obtained from various models and siting factors are compared and discussed.