Parking Suitability and Site Selection Analysis Using GIS-Based Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis Techniques: AHP, TOPSIS, and VIKOR – A Case Study of Pendik District (Istanbul)

Demand for parking areas has increased with the growing population and increasing number of vehicles. Large cities are suffering from a lack of parking areas, which are one of the most significant parts of the modern urban transportation system and traffic management. Locating parking areas has become a major challenge for the urban transport planners, especially in the downtown of metropolises. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with geographic analysis tools can provide a scientific approach to determine optimum locations for parking areas. In this paper, the essential factors affecting parking site selection were considered and data sets concerning these factors were created by GIS analysis techniques. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) as a Multiple-Criteria-Decision-Analysis (MCDA) method was applied to derive weights of the selected parameters. To conduct parking demand analysis, the parking suitability map was produced by integrating the GIS with AHP. Then, suitable parking areas were determined in a zoning plan that was based on the highest suitability on the map. Other MCDA techniques including TOPSIS and VIKOR were examined and compared to determine the order of preferences among suitable parking areas. Similar to the traditional AHP method, the same results were obtained in the ranking of parking areas with the other methods. Using GIS with these MCDA techniques appears to be a usable approach for better resource allocation as well as parking site selection.