Optimal Site Selection of Military Bases in Meshginshahr township Using Geographic Information System (GIS) Capabilities and the Analytic Network Process (ANP) Model

Multi-criteria decision-making methods combined with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) enable the simultaneous evaluation of various environmental, infrastructural, and security criteria, assisting in the optimal selection of locations for the establishment of military bases. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to locate military bases in Meshginshahr County using the Analytic Network Process (ANP) model and GIS.

To achieve the research objective, a survey method was first employed by designing a questionnaire to collect expert opinions on the factors influencing the siting of military bases in the study area. In the next step, necessary data layers were digitized based on existing maps, and a database was created in the ArcGIS environment. Data weighting was carried out using the ANP method. Finally, the zoning map of the study area was prepared by integrating and overlaying the selected layers.

The results indicated that 15.67% of the county's area falls within the "highly suitable" class and 17.97% within the "suitable" class, mainly located in the central and eastern parts of the county. In contrast, 25.55% is categorized as "unsuitable" and 21.48% as "highly unsuitable," primarily found in the mountainous and steep western and southern regions.This study demonstrated that integrating multi-criteria decision-making models with GIS spatial analysis can significantly assist in optimizing the site selection of military bases while minimizing environmental and security conflicts.