Development and Application of a Spreadsheet-Based Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS)

Spatial decision support systems (SDSS) are decision support tools which have been used widely in addressing complicated issues involving a spatial component. The use of SDSS has increased greatly over the last few decades especially in fields such as planning, natural resources management, and environmental science. Traditionally, SDSS have been developed with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology as a major component and used in application areas in which the use of GIS technology has been common. GIS software is often expensive and requires significant expertise, which can lead to under-utilization of GIS-based SDSS. In this paper, we describe the development of a freely available SDSS extension developed for Microsoft Excel, a very commonly used spreadsheet application. The purpose of this SDSS is to expand potential SDSS use to a wider potential audience for research, management, and teaching purposes.