Location of the Airport of Semnan Province by Using TOPSIS and Center Problem

Finding the location of airport is an important factor to reduce transportation costs. In this paper we want to find the location of an airport in the Semnan province of Iran. We use the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method and the algorithm of finding the center of a tree to find the best location of airport. To model this problem consider a graph which its vertices and edges represent the cities and roads, respectively. TOPSIS is one of the well-known methods for multiple attribute decision making. We first use this technique to determine the weights of cities. Then an algorithm of solving center location problem in a tree is applied to find the location of airport in the Semnan province. The center location problem is one of important problem in the location theory; this problem asks to find the location of a facility in the graph such that the maximum weighted distances from vertices of graph to this facility is minimized. In this research we consider the five cities and assign ten attributes to each city. According these attributes the weights of vertices are determined by TOPSIS method. After solving the center problem in the graph of Semnan province we find that the optimal location of the airport in this province is in the road between the cities Damghan and Semnan which it is distance from Damghan is 16 KM.