A metaheuristic approach for location of gas stations in a metropolitan area

Esra Aleisa, Mehmet Savsar, Mohammed M. Al-Mashaan, Abrar Al-Jadi and Sarah A. Al-Sabah

International Journal of Operational Research, 2014, vol. 21, issue 2, 172-200

Abstract: The paper presents a metaheuristic model, which is developed to determine the location of gas stations in the state of Kuwait. The variables of this study cover requirements to high demand areas such as commercial areas, businesses as well as safety and environmental factors translated into minimum distances to sensitive entities and receptors. The developed methodology combines GIS with analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to weigh and overlay layers of interest on the base map of urban and suburban areas in Kuwait. The output on this process is a suitability map that contains feasible locations for future gas stations sites. Feasible locations are then fed into an optimisation routine to obtain the optimal sites. The methodology includes international and national standards and regulation including minimum allowable distance to existing gas stations, natural gas distributors, fire stations, educational institutions, governmental agencies and ministries, airport, residential areas, commercial areas, industrial areas, road network and others. 199 feasible locations were obtained in the State of Kuwait that abide with all regulation while satisfying demand of businesses and residents. The optimum was obtained from these feasible solutions by using an optimisation routine.

Keywords: metaheuristics; facilities location; site selection; gas stations; petrol stations; geographic information systems; GIS; spatial analysis; optimisation; analytical hierarchy process; AHP; obnoxious facilities; ambivalent facilities; operational research; metaheuristics; metropolitan areas; Kuwait; suitability maps; regulations; business demands; resident demands. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=64543 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijores:v:21:y:2014:i:2:p:172-200

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Journal of Operational Research from Inderscience Enterprises Ltd
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sarah Parker ().