Abstract:

Current study investigated the access of Eskişehir hospitals to 112 Emergency and Fire departments by using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) based network analysis. Road center lines that represent Eskişehir provincial roads were created in the first step and emergency units were transferred to digital environment. Later, shortest route analysis and service area analysis were applied. These analyses showed how far the emergency units could reach in the specified times and suggestions were provided to identify locations for alternative units. Results of the analysis showed that the distribution of emergency units in the study area is not balanced. In this context, the proximity of some of the emergency units caused overlaps for the service areas. In order to prevent this fact from causing difficulties for emergency vehicles to reach their destinations in specified times, it is imperative to reorganize the locations of emergency units in addition to opening new units. As a final outcome, the study has shown that network analysis is beneficial in providing solutions that save lives in situations where human life is at stake. Keywords: Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Emergency management, Network analysis, Optimum route analysis, Service area analysis.

Keywords: