PlanX Suitability Lab

Raster MCDA suitability lab for QGIS — AHP/PCA/Entropy weighting, WLC/OWA composition, Monte Carlo uncertainty, explainable analytics.

---

PlanX Suitability Lab is a production-ready raster MCDA plugin for QGIS, designed for land suitability studies with strong reproducibility, uncertainty tracking, and explainability.

Module catalog

• Core preparation:
  • data_harmonizer (batch CRS/extent/resolution alignment to output stack + manifest)
  • vector_rasterizer (constant burn or field-driven rasterization)
  • proximity_builder (target values, distance units, max distance)
  • normalizer_reclassifier (min-max and fuzzy linear/sigmoid/gaussian)
  • constraint_builder (hard 0/1 mask policy)
  • synthetic_sample_raster, synthetic_pipeline_runner (optional sample data/workflow for onboarding)
• Weight engines:
  • ahp_weights (CR and CR acceptance flag)
  • pca_derived_weights (sampled covariance PCA-based weights)
  • entropy_weights (sampled entropy-information weights)
  • critic_weights (objective CRITIC: contrast + inter-criterion conflict)
  • weight_consolidator, scenario_weight_pack, weight_consensus_audit
• Compose engines:
  • wlc_suitability (chunk-aware weighted linear combination)
  • owa_suitability (chunk-aware OWA with criteria + order weights)
  • topsis_suitability (benefit/cost impacts + ideal/anti-ideal proximity)
  • vikor_suitability (compromise MCDA balancing group utility and individual regret)
  • ensemble_suitability (multi-scenario mean/std/p10/p90/confidence rasters)
  • scenario_consensus_zone (cross-scenario consensus count and consensus-class zoning)
  • scenario_disagreement_attention (conflict score/class map where scenarios diverge)
  • decision_quadrant_map (suitability x disagreement 2x2 decision map)
  • intervention_conflict_matrix (priority and conflict fused to execution classes)
  • risk_opportunity_matrix_map (robust suitability x uncertainty strategy matrix)
  • regret_fragility_map (cross-scenario regret spread score and fragility classes)
  • opportunity_loss_map (detects high-suitability zones excluded by hard constraints)
  • priority_zoning_from_suitability (action zoning from suitability/confidence/opportunity-loss)
  • candidate_site_extractor (ranked candidate site polygons from contiguous high-suitability patches)
  • uncertainty_adjusted_suitability (robust score from mean-std with risk aversion factor)
  • scenario_comparator (delta raster + stats summary)
• Uncertainty:
  • montecarlo_suitability with chunk processing and outputs: unc_mean, unc_std, unc_p05, unc_p50, unc_p95, stability_index
• Explainability:
  • xai_global_sensitivity
  • xai_local_contribution
  • xai_geoshapley_lite
• Reporting:
  • suitability_html_report
  • scenario_markdown_brief
  • suitability_class_area_stats
  • scenario_similarity_matrix
  • scenario_dominance_matrix
  • method_benchmark_leaderboard
  • scenario_robustness_leaderboard
  • scenario_portfolio_diversity
  • minimax_regret_selector
  • scenario_governance_audit
  • alignment_audit
  • policy_sensitivity_frontier
  • criterion_redundancy_diagnostics
  • constraint_impact_audit
  • priority_transition_matrix
  • spatial_fragmentation_audit
  • consensus_zone_area_stats
  • attention_class_area_stats
  • threshold_coverage_curve
  • executive_kpi_snapshot
  • policy_gate_recommender
  • decision_quadrant_area_stats
  • intervention_conflict_area_stats
  • risk_opportunity_area_stats
  • regret_fragility_area_stats
  • actionability_scorecard
  • scenario_selection_recommender
  • implementation_wave_planner
  • deployment_readiness_gate
  • intervention_budget_phasing
  • action_playbook_generator
  • release_narrative_builder
  • numerical_qa_check
  • beta_evidence_report (project evidence summary)
• Dashboard:
  • production workflow pages: Overview, Workflow, Guided Flow, Modules, Quick Actions, Recent Runs, System Health
  • module-card view with search/group filters
  • persistent favorite-module star pinning and favorites-only filter
  • workflow checklist and project-status copy helpers
  • command guide opener
  • command palette for fast module/action launch (Ctrl+K)
  • optional sample workflow runner for onboarding
  • live per-module Ready/Missing registry chips
  • recent-run log panel with timestamps
  • in-toolbox help for all 68 algorithms (shortHelpString + helpUrl)
  • redesigned visual theme and layout

Technical Policy

• QGIS native + NumPy only (no mandatory external scientific stack)
• Hard-constraint policy:
  • final suitability = constraint_mask * score
• Large-raster resilience:
  • chunk-based processing in heavy modules (WLC/OWA/TOPSIS/VIKOR/Monte Carlo/comparator)

Notes

• Use aligned 0-100 criteria rasters for best MCDA behavior.
• For real projects, start with data_harmonizer and continue from the dashboard Guided Flow tab.
• Smart output naming: when an algorithm output is left as temporary, PlanX auto-generates readable file names in the pattern <input>_<operation>_<timestamp>.tif.
• Full command details are available in docs/COMMAND_GUIDE.html.

🧩 Part of the PlanX ecosystem

This plugin is one of 15 open-source QGIS plugins for urban planning by the same author:

Planning & analysis	CAD & production	3D & visualization
PlanX — spatial-planning suite	PlanX CAD Toolset — drafting-grade CAD	PlanX 3D City — Three.js city viewer
GeoStats Lab — spatial statistics	EasyFillet — tangent-arc fillet	3D OSM Model — OSM → 3D city in browser
Suitability Lab — raster MCDA	Settlement Toolset — 9-stage settlement plans	OSM Quick 3D — OSM → native QGIS 3D
DataCube Lab — spatiotemporal cubes	UIP Toolset — Turkish master-plan automation	Urban Procedural 3D — parametric zoning lab
Urban Resilience — 28 resilience tools	ParcelFlux — parcel subdivision	CartoLab — publication cartography

📜 License & author

GPL-3.0 © Yusuf Eminoğlu — bug reports and feature requests welcome in Issues.