Planning Support System Research Articles

Advanced Modelling Tools to Support Planning for Sand/Gravel Quarries

Sand and gravel quarry planning must guarantee the public interest in the procurement of raw materials while ensuring environmental sustainability. An Analyzing Planning Support System for sand and gravel quarry plan can assist decision-makers during the planning process. The proposed Analyzing PSS uses integrating geologic, economic, environmental, and geographic information to quantify raw materials and the size of quarries. This kind of tool is useful to support public authority decisions. The study provides the results of an experience conducted in the province of Brescia (NUT 3 in Northern Italy).

A large scale multi criteria suitability analysis for identifying solar development potential: A decision support approach for the state of Illinois, USA

The State of Illinois is examining prospects to increase the development of in-state renewable energy resources on public lands. In response, this research develops a scalable decision-support tool for identifying suitable areas for solar energy generation in the state. This paper provides guidance for state agency-driven solar development by evaluating the suitability of potential generation areas in terms of environmental impact, socioeconomic costs, and energy productivity, and providing a forum for critical decision-making. More specifically, geospatial technologies are combined with a suitability analysis to reveal the potential for solar energy generation on public lands. This study demonstrates the usefulness of the resulting information for supporting both regional and local decision-making as a Planning Support System (PSS). Our analysis suggests that the large-scale analysis using fine resolution data is useful for comparison and site-specific decision making - with site verification protocols in terms of physical implementation. We find that planning decisions for solar development should use a fine-grained suitability approach at a large scale and a feasibility analysis at a specific scale. We present our findings in statewide application along with a scalable PSS tool to optimize and support solar decision-making process and democratize the information for engaging a broader audience.

Developing a Participatory Planning Support System for Sustainable Regional Planning—A Problem Structuring Case Study

In this paper, we report on the application of systems engineering in initiating the synthesis of a participatory planning support system (PSS) for sustainable regional planning. The systems engineering SPADE approach is applied in a model-based fashion to define and link sustainable development goals (SDGs) to regional and urban planning policies in a co-creative multi-stakeholder environment. The approach is demonstrated through a case study from the interregional climate, land-use, and transportation planning process (PAKT) in the Ålesund region in Norway. The work was performed using focus groups with planning stakeholders over a series of workshops to analyze, design, verify and validate the problem structure. Our study shows that the approach is useful for integrating and operationalizing the SDGs in a planning context. The methodology also brings clarity and structure to planning problems and provides a pedagogical frame to engage stakeholders in co-creative PSS synthesis. Further research is necessary to explore how structured elements may be exploited in PSS synthesis.

Cockpit Social Infrastructure

Web-based geographic information systems (GIS) and planning support systems are widely adopted as digital tools to support planning practices. The respective solutions tend to be isolated implementations aimed at a single planning purpose due to the specific requirement concerning their data, methodology, involved stakeholders, etc. With data platforms, GIS infrastructures, and the possibility to use web-based software that relies on open standards, creating a planning support infrastructure is more feasible than ever. Such infrastructures can create opportunities for governments to draw on existing systems and create the potential to improve planning practices through enhanced information and analysis. This paper describes the development of the cockpit social infrastructure, a planning application that serves as an interface between Hamburg's urban data platform and the municipal planners of social infrastructure. Its unique institutional setting as well as its reliance on an open standard software architecture make it a unique case for potential planning support infrastructure.

Automation platform independent multi-agent system for robust networks of production resources in industry 4.0

The Cyber-Physical Production System (CPPS) is a concept derived from software (cyber) and hardware (physical) applications and is based on global information exchange between such systems. The CPPS is known as a trend of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) focusing on flexibility regarding new products and adaptability to new requirements. This paper focuses on two I4.0 scenarios described by the Platform Industrie 4.0 that describe challenges for the industry towards its digital future. First, it looks at the Order Controlled Production (OCP) scenario that deals with flexible and self-configuring production networks. It describes the dynamic organization of production resources required to execute a production order. Second, the Adaptable Factory (AF) application scenario is discussed, which focuses on the configuration of production resources and describes the adaptability of an individual facility through (physical) modification. This paper first provides a detailed analysis of the requirements from these scenarios. Furthermore, it analyses the current Multi-Agent System (MAS) architectures and agent-based planning and decision support systems requirements. MAS can be used to create application-independent I4.0 systems with arbitrary hardware automation platforms. To create a scalable communication network that also supports application independence and enables the semantically machine-readable description of the exchanged data, the OPC UA standard was adopted. As a result of the study, the concept shows how different and independent automation platforms can be seamlessly connected via OPC UA. The proposed MAS concept has been evaluated in different use cases, namely OCP and AF.

Landscape Design toward Urban Resilience: Bridging Science and Physical Design Coupling Sociohydrological Modeling and Design Process

Given that evolving urban systems require ever more sophisticated and creative solutions to deal with uncertainty, designing for resilience in contemporary landscape architecture represents a cross-disciplinary endeavor. While there is a breadth of research on landscape resilience within the academy, the findings of this research are seldom making their way into physical practice. There are existent gaps between the objective, scientific method of scientists and the more intuitive qualitative language of designers and practitioners. The purpose of this paper is to help bridge these gaps and ultimately support an endemic process for more resilient landscape design creation. This paper proposes a framework that integrates analytic research (i.e., modeling and examination) and design creation (i.e., place-making) using processes that incorporate feedback to help adaptively achieve resilient design solutions. Concepts of Geodesign and Planning Support Systems (PSSs) are adapted as part of the framework to emphasize the importance of modeling, assessment, and quantification as part of processes for generating information useful to designers. This paper tests the suggested framework by conducting a pilot study using a coupled sociohydrological model. The relationships between runoff and associated design factors are examined. Questions on how analytic outcomes can be translated into information for landscape design are addressed along with some ideas on how key variables in the model can be translated into useful design information. The framework and pilot study support the notion that the creation of resilient communities would be greatly enhanced by having a navigable bridge between science and practice.

Assessing collaborative planning and the added value of planning support apps in The Netherlands

Although a growing body of literature has examined a variety of planning support systems, few studies have been conducted to understand emerging planning support apps for mobile participation and its impact on collaborative planning. This research develops a conceptual framework for assessing different phases of collaborative planning processes and the added value of planning support apps in stakeholder interaction and management. The case studies include four Dutch regeneration projects, which are ongoing pilot projects of the new Environment and Planning Act and supported by a variety of planning support apps. The data for each case study were collected from multiple sources, including policy documents, interviews with stakeholders and online information. The results show that the apps support to engage many participants, provide real-time communication and facilitate effective interactions between the stakeholder managers and local residents. However, their performance is largely dependent on the user-friendliness of the system. Besides, a good consensus building process in the planning phase has a positive effect on stakeholder management and the performance of the apps in the execution phase.

Technical approach and strategic plan for large-scale ecological and environmental gover-nance and national ecological security pattern construction.

Terrestrial ecosystems are the core components of the biosphere, supporting human life, production and social and economic activities. With the development of human civilization and the progress of science and technology, the continued expanding resources utilization in terms of scale and intensity has caused environmental problems, including global climate change, biodiversity loss, environmental pollution, resource depletion and ecosystem degradation, which threaten the sustainable development of our society. The public expects ecological research providing scientific theories and systematic solutions for the utilization and protection of ecosystems at the continental and global scale, and the maintenance of sustainable development of human society as well. This study aimed to serve the ecological civilization construction in China, ecological security pattern construction, regional ecological and environmental governance, and the development of macrosystem ecology. We reviewed the effectiveness and experience of regional ecological and environmental governance in China, analyzed the scientific requirements and the characteristics of the times of China's eco-civilization construction towards large-scale ecological research, and proposed using a new philosophy, i.e., nature-based macroecosystem approach, to improve the ecological and environmental governance and ecological security pattern construction at the regional scale. Based on the above-mentioned expounding, we discussed the strategic plan, technical approaches and technological support system of large-scale ecological security pattern construction and ecological and environmental governance in China. This review could provide theoretical references for safe, healthy and beautiful land spatial construction and the progress of eco-civilization of China.

Tightly Coupling Input Output Economics with Spatio-Temporal Land Use in a Dynamic Planning Support System Framework

Planning support systems (PSSs) should generally be designed to promote the participation of stakeholders in planning and design processes through the delivery of useful, localized information, an ability to collect feedback, and an ability to model and test various ‘what-if’ scenarios. This paper focuses on such a PSS tool. The tool integrates the Land-use Evolution and Assessment Model (LEAM) with a Regional Economic Input-Output Model (REIM) in a tightly coupled computational process made accessible to stakeholders through a web-based PSS. The integrated tool allows for users to easily navigate the models and test land use and economic scenarios without expert assistance. It also keeps simulations updated with dynamic inputs and engages users in PSS development and application through responsive feedback to enhance plan-making abilities. In this paper, we demonstrate an application of the LEAM-REIM PSS in Sangamon County, Illinois. The application demonstrates an ability to provide more efficacious and detailed land use estimations through the connection of economic and land-use models, allowing users to easily engage with, navigate, and respond to scenario tests. We discuss the PSS tool, model integration approach, and detailed application to assess its usefulness in urban planning and design. We also propose some opportunities for further research.

An integrated land-use/transportation forecasting and planning model: A metropolitan planning support system

Over the last several decades, land-use/transport interaction models have evolved. Although these models have the potential to become primary demographic forecasting and planning vehicles in metropolitan transportation planning for most large US urban regions, some gaps and improvements must be addressed. This paper briefly discusses a newly developed and refined integrated land-use/transportation model. It also introduces innovative approaches to modeling an urban area including a variant of a geographic information system-based land-use and environmental suitability analysis, as main components in deriving development potential for a small-cell grid of the study region. This approach enables the inclusion of public and stakeholder input into the modeling process, facilitates micro-level consideration of trip generation, trip distribution, and mode-choice inside the land-use demographic model, thus furthering the integration of transportation and land use in the modeling process. Such considerations and utilization of rule-based approaches and concerns of economic development and environmental and sustainability factors help close some existing gaps of operational models designed for real world practical applications. All of these features contribute toward further improvement of these models.

Conceptualising and prototyping a decision support system for safer urban unmanned aerial vehicle operations

ABSTRACT Currently, there is limited discourse surrounding the safe operational planning of UAVs within complex multi-stakeholder urban environments. This paper conceptualises a methodology for prototyping a decision support system for urban UAV flight operations planning. The proposition is based on integrating urban 3-dimensional data with the physical factors of UAV flight operations. A simulated, holistic understanding of UAV usage in urban space emerges, enabling better informed decisions by planners around safe flight operations. The feasibility, applicability and benefits of the decision support system and associated policy implications for urban planners and UAV users are discussed scoping further development of this approach.

The structure of the support system for making optimal decisions during the decommissioning of nuclear facilities

The paper presents the structure of the optimal Decision Support System (DSS) for planning, preparing and implementation of nuclear facilities decommissioning. The proposed structure is intended to implement the following DSS functions: modelling of nuclear facilities and decommissioning activities carried out according to various possible decommissioning options; quantitative assessment of a specific set of partial indicators that characterise the possible decommissioning strategies; identifying the preferences of the decision-maker and redacting them to a formalised form (the quantitative restrictions on the values of partial indicators, the weighting functions of significance for partial indicators); identification of the values of the complex indicator which is a measure for optimality of the considered possible decommissioning strategies. Possible decommissioning strategies are described using a set of the following partial indicators: potential radiation hazards, decommissioning costs, duration of the decommissioning stage. The DSS is designed to be used for decommissioning of nuclear facilities in the Russian Federation. However, it can be used for decommissioning of nuclear facilities in other countries after appropriate modifications.

The structure of the support system for making optimal decisions during the decommissioning of nuclear facilities

The paper presents the structure of the optimal Decision Support System (DSS) for planning, preparing and implementation of nuclear facilities decommissioning. The proposed structure is intended to implement the following DSS functions: modelling of nuclear facilities and decommissioning activities carried out according to various possible decommissioning options; quantitative assessment of a specific set of partial indicators that characterise the possible decommissioning strategies; identifying the preferences of the decision-maker and redacting them to a formalised form (the quantitative restrictions on the values of partial indicators, the weighting functions of significance for partial indicators); identification of the values of the complex indicator which is a measure for optimality of the considered possible decommissioning strategies. Possible decommissioning strategies are described using a set of the following partial indicators: potential radiation hazards, decommissioning costs, duration of the decommissioning stage. The DSS is designed to be used for decommissioning of nuclear facilities in the Russian Federation. However, it can be used for decommissioning of nuclear facilities in other countries after appropriate modifications.

How to Design Human-Machine Interaction in Next-Generation Supply Chain Planning

Decision support systems for supply chain planning have been supporting planners over decades to improve their decision making in many different ways. As next-generation planning systems are leveraging advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, companies must not only determine what decision support to use, but effectively shape how the supply chain planner (“the human”) and the system (“the machine”) work together. At the same time, AI-supported planning systems will change the job profiles and required skill sets of supply chain planners. This chapter provides guidance on what to consider when designing such interactive systems and elaborates on the effect of digitization on supply chain job profiles.

A Sightseeing Planning Support System with Gamification

In recent years, as there has been a major change in the necessity and importance of sightseeing information, a platform to provide real-time sightseeing information according to the ever-changing circumstances is necessary. Additionally, it is effective to adopt gamification to increase users’ motivation to continuously utilize the system in order to provide them with more information. In the present study, in order to support users’ enjoyment in creating efficient and pleasant sightseeing plans, the system that incorporates gamification to increase motivation was developed combining with web-geographic information systems (Web-GIS) and sightseeing planning and sharing system. The system was operated over a period of 2 weeks in Chofu City, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. Based on the results of a questionnaire survey for 51 users, though the operability of the 3 main functions incorporated with motivation by gamification was rated lower than those of the 2 basic functions, their usefulness was highly rated. Based on the results of the access log analysis, it was effective to design the system so that the same functions can be used regardless of the type of information terminal. Additionally, it was evident that the continuous utilization of the system could increase the number of sightseeing plans created by the users.

Life Planning Support System for Older Generations Using Social Simulation Log Analysis

Life Planning Support System for Older Generations Using Social Simulation Log Analysis

Real-time Simulation Methods for Robots with a Flexible Arm Based on Computer Graphics Technology

A robot with a flexible arm that is controlled with a remotely operated water-pressure mechanism has been developed for dismantling objects that are heavily contaminated by radioactive materials during decommissioning of nuclear power plants. The objective of this research is to develop a process planning support system and method that can improve the accuracy of estimating the time required by the robot to complete its dismantling activity, support recovery from delays, and determine the feasibility of conducting a dismantling process in the reactor building. Since the flexible arm has a more complex mechanism and shapes those that of multi-axis robots, unique movable arm structures were modeled with a tool for three-dimensional (3D) computer graphics (CG) technology. The 3D CG model was used to make valid operation sequences for planning the motion of the robot. With the help of a prototype system, motion planning can perform to calculate the duration needed for the robot to complete its operation. The calculated duration is then used for updating the planned duration of a specific activity in a dismantling schedule. To plan the robot behaviors for complex dismantling processes, a simplified planning method with few virtual controllers based on a spline inverse kinematics (IK) with a non-uniform rational B-spline (NURBS) curve for an arm comprised of pistons and cylinders pressurized by water was studied. A prototype system for planning the behaviors of the robot was evaluated, and it was confirmed that the movement trajectory of the robot and the three-dimensional isometric display could be visualized using the mesh model generated from point-cloud data used to make the environment model of the robot. It was also confirmed that the operations involved in a specific activity of the robot could be completed within the duration determined in the simulation.

소셜 네트워크 분석을 통한 도시 계획 의사결정지원 시스템 개발 동향 규명 : 생태산업개발(EID)과 관련된 도시 계획을 중심으로

Purpose: This study aims at identifying the development trends of decision support system (DSS) for the urban planning in relation to the ecological industry in order to secure the decision support base for leading sustainable eco-industrial development (EID) within the city. Method: In this study, through text mining technique, key words was extracted from the titles and abstracts of the DSS-related research documents published from 2003 to 2019 in international academia. Their relationships were analyzed through Social Network Analysis (SNA). Result: Most of the extracted key words were analyzed to have close relations with each other in the network. In particular, the very strong link between the ‘circular economy’ and the ‘environment’ showed that the application of the concept of circular economy is needed in the decision-making process. In particular, ‘China’ is the keyword that appeared most frequently in the research documents, which has strong links with other topics, especially with ‘urbanization’, ‘CO₂ emission’, and ‘NPS pollutants’. Researches around the world conducted to economically implement EID and reduce negative social and environmental impacts during the development process show that it is necessary to develop DSS construction to optimize vehicle routes, manage water quality, and minimize carbon dioxide emissions. It was found that while ‘cost’ and ‘policy makers’ are factors that directly influence the decision-making process, ‘sustainable development’ is a factor that has a high mediating influence on the process.

Linear programming based decision support system for grapes transport planning in CAPEL

AbstractThis research is about developing a decision support system (DSS) for the distribution of grapes and grape must in a Chilean cooperative, Cooperativa Agrícola Pisquera Elqui Limitada (CAPEL). CAPEL is dedicated to producing and distributing several beverages such as sparkling wines, beers, energy drinks, rum, and pisco. This work aims to support the grinding‐related transport stage through a linear programming based DSS, in order to find the optimal use of the transport demand in a network based on source and destination plants during the harvest season. To achieve this aim, an operational research (OR) model that feeds the DSS is developed, whose objective function seeks to minimize the total transport cost. The decision variables define the grape cargo to be transported from a source plant to a destination plant. The OR model uses constraints such as transportation demand, grinding capacity, maximum storage, and available grape in plants. The model succeeded in reducing the total transport costs by 14% for the 2017 season of the pisco‐making process, meaning approximately savings of 59 million Chilean pesos.

Development and evaluation of STEPS, an out-of-class learning planning and monitoring strategy support system for students

Self-directed learning (SDL) is a means of providing students with an opportunity to teach themselves skills that will serve them well throughout life. The development of such skills should be seen as existing alongside those taught by teachers; it is often the case that SDL teaches students how to learn, as well as what to learn. When students are encouraged to partake in SDL it not only enables them to think for themselves, it also reduces the burden on specific teachers and faculty members who might be responsible for hundreds of students. A team of researchers based at four universities in Japan have come together to develop a Self-Tailored Educational Portal System (STEPS). The team is composed of Professors Takeshi Matsuda and Hiroshi Kato, and Associate Professors Nobuhiko Kondo, Yuki Watanabe and Katsusuke Shigeta. The central idea behind STEPS is to provide advice to students and enable them to make decisions based on available data.