Fuzzy expert system for land reallocation in land consolidation

One of the most important steps of land consolidation projects is land reallocation studies. In Turkey, reallocation studies carried out in the scope of land consolidation projects are made according to farmer preferences (interviews). In addition to interview-based land reallocation model, mathematical models have been used in the previous optimization studies for reallocation procedure. Recently, fuzzy logic method, which is capable of modeling human mindset and used when other forms of mathematical models cannot be developed, has also been applied to the field of geomatic engineering, as well as in other engineering branches. This study examined the applicability of a fuzzy logic method at the reallocation stage of land consolidation study, where development of an accurate mathematical model was not possible. The results obtained from the fuzzy logic-based land reallocation model were compared with those obtained from the interview-based land reallocation model. Farmers were surveyed to determine which land reallocation model they preferred. The results indicate that 80.5% of the participant landholdings were satisfied with the fuzzy logic-based reallocation land model, while 50% were with the interview-based land reallocation model. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.