{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,3]],"date-time":"2026-07-03T18:25:21Z","timestamp":1783103121837,"version":"3.54.6"},"reference-count":67,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2017,12,1]],"date-time":"2017-12-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1512086400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJGI"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Land-use suitability is the ability of a given type of land to support a defined use. Analysis of land-use suitability requires the consideration of a variety of criteria, not only the natural\/physical capacity of a land unit, but also its socioeconomic and environmental impact implications. As land suitability is assessed within a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment, it is formulated as a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem. The study was conducted in the Sangab Plain in northeast Iran. We investigated the study area\u2019s suitability for grassland and agricultural uses. A hybrid method of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and GIS methodology was applied to evaluate land suitability based on a set of criteria and sub-criteria. Results showed that 20% of the study area had high (rich), 65% had medium (fair), and 15% had low (poor) suitability for agriculture. In terms of grassland use, the comparable amounts were, respectively, about 7%, 23%, and 70%. The lands of the Sangab Plain have medium potential for agricultural use and low potential for grassland use. This paper used both qualitative and quantitative techniques.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijgi6120396","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,12,1]],"date-time":"2017-12-01T12:30:16Z","timestamp":1512131416000},"page":"396","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":71,"title":["Land-Use Suitability in Northeast Iran: Application of AHP-GIS Hybrid Model"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"6","author":[{"given":"Elnaz","family":"Memarbashi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Agroecology, Faculty of Agriculture, Azad University of Mashhad, 9187864584 Mashhad, Iran"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5108-1993","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hossein","family":"Azadi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Geography, Ghent University, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium"},{"name":"Economics and Rural Development, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liege, B-4000 Liege, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0375-2331","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ali","family":"Barati","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Development, Department of Agricultural Management and Development, University of Tehran, 1417466191 Tehran, Iran"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fatemeh","family":"Mohajeri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Agroecology, Faculty of Agriculture, Azad University of Mashhad, 9187864584 Mashhad, Iran"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Steven","family":"Passel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Applied Economics, Department of Engineering Management, University of Antwerp, Prinsstraat 13, B-2000 Antwerp, Belgium"},{"name":"Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Martelarenlaan 42, B-3500 Hasselt, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8966-6823","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Frank","family":"Witlox","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Geography, Ghent University, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium"},{"name":"College of Civil Aviation, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA), Nanjing 210016, China"},{"name":"Department of Geography, University of Tartu, 21014 Tartu, Estonia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,12,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"123","DOI":"10.2174\/1877611611202020123","article-title":"Use of remote sensing techniques for robust digital change detection of land: A review","volume":"2","author":"Bhagat","year":"2012","journal-title":"Recent Pat. 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