Spatial Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) for Airport with Air Traffic Control Tower Site Selection based on GIS Platform

Abstract

Air transportation is fast growing, and safety is of paramount importance in order to protect lives of passengers and crew as well as the properties of commercial airlines and airports facilities providing services to air travelers. To maintain safety and minimize the risk of air traffic accident, it is necessary to put in place adequate infrastructures like the airports with air traffic control tower that will support air traffic and provide accessibility to passengers utilizing air as a medium of transportation to move from one location to the other. Choosing a location to site an airport can be a complex problem because of multiple factors such as maneuverability of aircraft, movement of passengers, location of warehouse and government authorities like security, immigration and customs which need to be considered and most times are influenced by personal interest, political interest or religious affiliations while neglecting safety. Furthermore, airport is a gigantic project that requires substantial allocation from the federal budget in order to fund it, and hence requires careful consideration and critical analysis to make sure that such a project will maximize its potential when completed. Geographic Information Science (GIScience) based approach which is devoid of human influence can be used in solving a complex problem like choosing a location for airport with air traffic control tower. In this study, GIScience based approach such as spatial multi-criteria analysis (MCA) which combines analytic hierarchy process (AHP) with experts’ opinion is used to build a model which produced suitability map for site selection of airports with air traffic control tower in Nigeria. This study discovered that distance to road network (38%), distance to settlement (26%), and slope (12%) are the most contributing criteria in the suitability map. Comparative analysis also showed that 10.4% and 58.3% of existing airports with air traffic control tower are in areas classified as highly suitable and moderately suitable respectively.