Filling Station Site Selection with GIS and MCDM for Planning Studies: A Case of Trabzon, Türkiye

The effective utilization of limited urban land is achievable through the implementation of comprehensive zoning plans. Planning decisions must prioritize the allocation of land for its most appropriate uses, grounded in scientific criteria and urban planning principles. This study aims to develop a framework and decision-support platform specifically for the siting of filling stations, which represent a distinct category of urban land use. To inform planning efforts, site selection analyses were conducted using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), a widely recognized method within the Spatial Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (S-MCDM) framework, integrated with Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The proposed model facilitates the identification of optimal locations for filling stations in accordance with zoning regulations. As a result of the analysis, a total of 3,445 suitable areas were identified within the city of Trabzon, ensuring adequate spatial distribution across all districts. Notably, the findings indicate that 63% of currently operational filling stations are located in areas deemed unsuitable based on the selected criteria and their respective weights within the AHP framework. These results highlight the necessity for evidence-based planning approaches to guide urban land use decisions effectively.