Geospatial Analysis of Potential Petrol Station Locations in the Cape Town District, South Africa

Abstract

This research seeks to find suitable locations for petrol station development within the City of Cape Town district, using spatial analysis techniques. An analytical hierarchical process (AHP) was used to generate a level of importance for each identified feature layer for this study. Roads (38%) were found to be the most significant feature followed by slope (25%), fault lines (16%), waterbodies (10%), public facilities (7%) and protected areas (4%). Spatial analysis was conducted to produce a potential site suitability map indicating areas for petrol station development. The resultant site suitability map had two main categories viz: the suitable area and the not suitable area. The suitable area had a total of 39.7% with not suitable area having the remaining 60.3%. The suitable area category was further divided into high, moderate and low areas of suitability.

The geocoding of addresses technique was used to acquire the petrol stations currently located within the City of Cape Town district, resulting in the identification of 359 spatial petrol station points. This research investigation operates under the assumption that the current locations of petrol stations are built on suitable areas. The purpose is to assess the degree to which the distribution of these stations matches the site suitability map. The findings indicated that 64% of the petrol stations were situated in suitable locations, whilst 36% were established in unsuitable areas. Thus, the resulting site suitability map’s overall accuracy is 64%. To find the optimum location, further analysis depicting the distance requirement of petrol stations from one another was conducted. The study revealed that the high suitability area is over-saturated, and no petrol station development is recommended. Although locations with moderate and low suitability are not oversaturated, further research is advised before developing petrol stations in these areas.