Analysis of the geographical accessibility of neurosurgical emergency hospitals in Sapporo city using GIS and AHP

  • Authors:

  • K. Ohta;G. Kobashi;S. Takano;S. Kagaya;H. Yamada;H. Minakami;E. Yamamura

  • Affiliations:

  • Department of Obstetrics, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, N15 W7, Kita-Ku, Sapporo 060-8638, Japan;Division of Preventive Medicine, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, N15 W7, Kita-Ku, Sapporo 060-8638, Japan;Division of Construction Enginneering for Cold Regional Environment, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Engineering, N13 W8, Kita-Ku, Sapporo 060-8628, Japan;Division of Urban and Environmental Engineering, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Engineering, N13 W8, Kita-Ku, Sapporo 060-8628, Japan;Department of Obstetrics, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, N15 W7, Kita-Ku, Sapporo 060-8638, Japan;Department of Obstetrics, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, N15 W7, Kita-Ku, Sapporo 060-8638, Japan;Division of Regional Ecosystems, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Environmental Earth Science, N10 W5, Kita-Ku, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan

  • Venue:
  • International Journal of Geographical Information Science
  • Year:
  • 2007

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Abstract

To improve the geographical accessibility of neurosurgical emergency hospitals for elderly people, we developed several alternative site plans for a new neurosurgical emergency hospital in Sapporo, Japan. Hospitals, population data, routes, and the numerical information for the Analytic Hierarchy Process computations were input into a Geographical Information System. Pairwise comparison revealed the following weights which were assigned to each of the four criteria: 0.674 for availability of hospital beds; 0.169 for the maximum road distance of the shortest routes; 0.101 for the elderly population within a 3-km radius; and 0.056 for the median road distance of the shortest routes. The alternative proposed could cover 4000 more elderly people in the 3-km radius of the hospitals. The integration of Geographical Information Systems and the Analytic Hierarchy Process constitutes a powerful tool for analysing traffic conditions in mid-sized cities and for suggesting city planning to improve prognosis of stroke.