Search Methods for Evacuation Routes during Torrential Rain Disasters Using Genetic Algorithms and GIS

Abstract

The present study aims to propose a method to search for the most appropriate evacuation routes that take calorie consumption required for evacuees to reach evacuation sites into consideration, by focusing on disasters caused by heavy rainfall, and using genetic algorithm (GA) and geographic information system (GIS). Specifically, GA was used to design and develop an evacuation route search algorithm and 4 parameters including the number of generations, mutation rate number of individuals and crossover rate were set by conducting sensitivity analyses. Additionally, GIS was also used to create road network data and contour data for digital maps and calculate the altitude of each crossover point. Based on these, the necessary calorie consumption to reach evacuation sites for each route was calculated, and that made it possible to derive the several evacuation routes with the small values unlike other methods. By using GA and GIS to suggest detailed evacuation routes, which take the necessary calories required to reach evacuation sites into consideration, it can be expected that the present study should contribute to the decision-making of evacuees. Additionally, as the method is based on public information, the method has high spatial and temporal repeatability. Because evacuation routes are proposed based on quantified data, the selected evacuation routes are quantitatively evaluated, and are an effective indicator for deciding on an evacuation route. Additionally, evacuation routes that accurately reflect current conditions can be derived by utilizing detailed information as data.