THE APPLICATION OF SPATIAL DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS FOR RETAIL LOCATION ASSESSMENT: A CASE STUDY OF AMMAN, JORDAN

Recently, Jordanian cities have begun to witness a dramatic development in the retail sectors. Amman, the capital city, is assumed to have claimed the lion's share of grand retail projects in Jordan, especially large shopping malls which have been growing randomly with little or no coordination between investors and urban planners. This paper aims to introduce a reliable method that can be used by decision makers to predict the retail demand and needs of the community, saving development time and increasing the accuracy of the process of mall location selection. The paper used the methods of retail demand-supply, and for data collection 500 questionnaires were given to shopping mall customers and owners. GIS was used to link the collected data with the maps and analyze it geographically. The study concluded that there is an obvious need for more shopping malls in Amman. Findings of the paper specify the retail area needed, and at the same time show that GIS proves to be a valuable tool for retail sector decision makers and planners.