A spatial decision support system for transportation policy analysis in Bangladesh

Abstract Evaluating various alternatives for transportation policy and investments naturally leads one to consider a series of 'What if questions. Merging the technologies of geographic information systems with the analytic power of transportation models can yield a spatial decision support system capable of assessing the impacts of a wide array of planning options. We report here on the development and application of such a system, the Bangladesh Transportation Modeling System. Building the BTMS forced us to resolve several of the issues involved in merging GIS technology with transportation models.