A decision support system for evaluation of the ecological benefits of rehabilitation of coal mine waste areas

Abstract This paper describes a decision support system (DSS) for evaluation of the ecological benefits of rehabilitation of coal mine waste areas. The system was used as a tool to evaluate the ecological benefits; it supported users to select the proper models and index systems according to the waste type or the users’ predilection. The DSS was applied in the Fuxin coal mine dump area. Our novel integrated web‐GIS DSS was implemented using a web server and ServletExec technology over an ArcIMS platform to support data access and processing in a distributed environment. The DSS allows the generation and evaluation of suitable alternatives with respect to salient features of the problem, especially environmental consequences. The paper describes the identification and collection of relevant information, the structure of a database, the design of algorithms for solving the core location problem, the study of models for evaluating the different alternatives and their framing in a complete multi‐criteria decision model. In particular, the model management subsystem supports the user to choose a corresponding algorithm and modify the index for ecological benefits. Finally, the solution of the case study, by means of the DSS, is described.

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