Developing an Open Source Plugin for Spatial Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis: Ordered Weighted Averaging in QGIS

Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) is a technique commonly used in GIS for decision support. In the QGIS environment, few pre-existing plugins exist to help calculate vector-based MCDA techniques such as Ordered Weighted Averaging (OWA). This research paper creates a set of two new Python 3-based plugins: The “Field Standardizer” plugin for quick standardization of vector data, and the “WLC/OWA Tool” plugin for an intuitive calculator to carry out both Weighted Linear Combination (WLC) and OWA to expand MCDA functionalities in QGIS. The plugins are then illustrated in an investigation of socio-economic status of neighbourhoods in the City of Toronto. The investigation also analyzes the mapped results of different OWA weight options tested, such as MAX, MIN, WLC, and other customized weights.