Application of GIS in extracting spatial criteria from existing landfill site
Siti Zubaidah Ahmad, Mohd Sanusi S. Ahamad et al.
Management of municipal solid waste (MSW) is one of the major problems for most develop cities in the world. Malaysia is experiencing similar problems in managing solid waste. The common method of disposal of MSW in Malaysia is landfills. Most of the landfill sites are open dumping areas. Disposal of wastes through land filling is becoming more difficult because existing landfill sites are filling up at a very fast rate. Consequently, the construction of new landfill sites has become more difficult because of land scarcity, increase of land prices and high demands, especially in urban areas. Landfill site selection is a complex process involving social, environmental, and technical parameters as well as government regulations. As such, it evidently requires the processing of massive amounts of spatial data. GIS has the analytical capability to extract criterion attributes or spatial parameters of landfills. This paper presented a spatial analytical method of extracting spatial parameters from an existing landfill site. A case study conducted on Pulau Burong Landfill site in South Seberang Perai, Penang. The purpose of this study is to investigate the compliances of existing landfill to government standard specifications for landfill sitting criteria. The spatial data extraction process becomes easier with the existence of raster map themes in GIS ready format. Criterion attributes are comprised of factor and constraint maps concerning transportation, residential, land use, topography, groundwater, and other sustainable spatial related issues. The result has indicated that the Pulau Burong landfill site has satisfied the regulatory rules pertaining to spatial parameters set upon by the government.
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