Development of a spatial multicriteria approach to determine the location of loading/unloading spaces in urban centers

This paper proposes an innovative solution approach that combines mathematical programming, multicriteria decision analysis, and a geographic information system (GIS) to determine the optimal number of loading/unloading spaces in urban centers. The proposed methodology was implemented in a case study in the urban center of Fortaleza, a municipality in the Northeast region of Brazil. Employing the hybrid method for selecting optimal loading/ unloading spaces resulted in a 10% increase in the percentage of served clients compared to using solely the mathematical model. On the contrary, as the registered spaces were not determined using a scientific approach, clients located outside the Centro neighborhood experienced notably low service levels, with walking distances exceeding 450 meters.