A Survey of Emergency Service Facilities Site Selection (ESFSS) Algorithms

Abstract

Emergency Service Facilities Site Selection (ESFSS) seeks to determine the most suitable locations for additional stations in a given area. Its objective is to make the site reachable in a minimal time following a service request. Currently, potential new locations for emergency stations are manually selected. While this has been successful in the past, a more rigorous mathematical model and algorithm are needed. Choosing the optimal site for an emergency station is attractive, as it maximizes the facility's benefits and reduces citizen service response time. This research paper conducted a systematic literature review on 51 research articles addressing four main Research Questions (RQs) about current localization approaches with regard to use of resources. In that context, current approaches had been used with different variables to select the specific area and to determine the distance between emergency response stations. This review investigates relevant studies published between 2010 and 2020 related to reputable conferences and journals. Early works determined the optimal location of emergency stations by using optimization models like maximum coverage, K-means, linear programming, genetic algorithms and a heuristic algorithm. We summarized and analyzed the existing schemes used in ESFSS. A large amount of detailed information is required in order to introducing a new facility. This information is collected and analyzed in order to conduct a proper evaluation based on specific factors. These factors such as crime levels, population and geological features may affect the station's position. This research study provides an overview of different methods for selecting an emergency station's position.