# An Online Multicriteria--Spatial Decision Support System for Public Services Planning
## 5 Conclusions  
This paper presents a novel approach to public service planning that combines MCDA with GIS customised for web applications. This integration is characterised by its potential to improve decision-making processes in the provision of public services, as it provides a user-friendly interface that does not require in-depth technical knowledge.  
The introduced MC-SDSS allows for planners to independently analyse complex decision problems in public services with a centrally provided web system. A major advantage of the online system is that the planners no longer have to spend time on preliminary data search and integration or build complex methods and models themselves. The application gives users many options to select criteria and make adjustments without having to be an expert in data handling, GIS, or decision support systems. The user interface guides through the well-structured process and the setting options.  
The efforts in the preparation of the required data and in the implementation of the software are relatively high. Therefore, the initial investment of time and technology to provide such a system within an administration is very high. However, we believe that such a tool offers strategic benefits that by far outweigh the set-up and operating costs. The efforts are worthwhile, especially if the social or political pressure due to social transformation processes (demographic change, shortage of human resources, etc.) is strong and the system is frequently used by many planners in different regions. The updating of existing data should always be performed centrally and with a high degree of automation in order to keep operating and maintenance costs as low as possible. This is also the main limitation if the system is to be transferred to another region: The availability of the data must be ensured and the initial costs are quite high in order to harmonise and integrate the data. For the planning context, the existing user setting options are so variable that no major interface adjustments need to be made in another region. Any changes in other regions that might be necessary at the user's request would affect calculation parameters and methods. The effort required then depends on the type of change desired. The application is designed for planning issues and analyses relating to the evaluation of public services. Transferability to other issues is not considered in this application proposal.  
This implementation makes it possible to determine and evaluate the supply situation in a map representation in short time (several minutes). Thanks to the MC-SDSS approach, the supply situation can be analysed according to the planner's professional background. This enables decision makers to make the following decisions depending on the use case:  
* Which areas/cities/towns/villages have the lowest supply according to the criteria set and, therefore, require funding?
* Are the designated regional supply centres for the population fulfilling their supply task, or have other centres emerged as a result of free market principles (freedom of location)?
* If new settlement areas are built, where can these be planned without having to build new infrastructures for services of general interest because existing ones can be better utilised?  
The application of MCDA methods should not be explicitly understood as an exclusively technical and automatic process, and the decision should not be taken away from the responsible planners or decision makers. The task of this tool is to inform about the supply situation and to compare the situation at different locations using a criteria map.