Weighted OWA Operators in Spatial MultiCriteria Decision-Making

Abstract

ABSTRACT:This paper presents an implementation of a Weighted Ordered Weighted Averaging (WOWA) algorithm within a GIS-based multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA). Conventional OWA procedures do not account for varied relative importances of the decision evaluation criteria. This research focuses on the procedure for aggregating criteria-weights into OWA operators by implementing a special Weighted OWA (WOWA) operator that unifies conventional OWA with Weighted Linear Combination (WLC) techniques within a spatial decision context. The paper then demonstrates the application of WOWA within a vector-based spatial problem for identifying Disadvantaged Communities within San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles.