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One of the available tools for mapping the geographical distribution and potential suitable habitats is species distribution models. These techniques are very helpful for finding poorly known distributions of species in poorly sampled areas, such as the tropics. Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) is a recently developed modeling method that can be successfully calibrated using a relatively small number of records. In this research, the MaxEnt model was applied to describe the distribution and identify the key factors shaping the potential distribution of the vulnerable Malayan Sun Bear (Helarctos malayanus) in one of the main remaining habitats in Peninsular Malaysia. MaxEnt results showed that even though Malaysian sun bear habitat is tied with tropical evergreen forests, it lives in a marginal threshold of bio-climatic variables. On the other hand, current protected area networks within Peninsular Malaysia do not cover most of the sun bears potential suitable habitats. Assuming that the predicted suitability map covers sun bears actual distribution, future climate change, forest degradation and illegal hunting could potentially severely affect the sun bear’s population.

Geographic information systems (GIS) have been integrated to many applications in facility location problems today. However, there are still some GIS capabilities yet to be explored thoroughly. This study utilizes the capability of GIS to generate service areas as the travel time zones in a facility location model called the maximal service area problem (MSAP). The model is addressed to emergency facilities for which accessibility is an important requirement. The objective of the MSAP is to maximize the total service area of a specified number of facilities. In the MSAP, continuous space is deemed as the demand area, thus the optimality was measured by how large the area could be served by a set of facilities. Fire stations in South Jakarta, Indonesia, were chosen as a case study. Three heuristics, genetic algorithm (GA), tabu search (TS) and simulated annealing (SA), were applied to solve the optimization problem of the MSAP. The final output of the study shows that the three heuristics managed to provide better coverage than the existing coverage with the same number of fire stations within the same travel time. GA reached 82.95% coverage in 50.60 min, TS did 83.20% in 3.73 min, and SA did 80.17% in 52.42 min, while the existing coverage only reaches 73.82%.

Purpose-To present a comprehensive flood management plan for Malaysia, the various planning stages and the proponents of the plan. It is also to expound and highlight the importance of spatial information technology in the strategy and to outline the critical decision-making at various levels of the plan. Design/methodology/approach-A review of flood disaster management aimed at providing an insight into the strategies for a comprehensive flood disaster management for Malaysia. Discussion of the framework of a spatial decision support system (SDSS) and its role in decision-making in a comprehensive disaster management plan. Findings-Provides information about a proposed comprehensive disaster management program for Malaysia and highlight the role of SDSS in improving decision-making. It recognizes the strength of SDSS in the collection and processing of information to speed up communication between the proponents of the disaster management program. A well-design SDSS for flood disaster management should present a balance among capabilities of dialog, data and modeling. Research limitations/implications-The study has outlined the links and components of SDSS and not its development processes; this may limit the used of this paper in in-depth study of the development if SDSS. Some source for detail study of the development of SDSS have, however, been cited. Practical implications-This paper is a very useful source of information about the preparation of a comprehensive disaster management program. It also sheds light on the role of SDSS in improving and speeding up communication between the various proponents of the program. Researcher and students will fine, it provides general guidelines and framework for disaster planning and management. Originality/value-This paper fulfills flood disaster study need for developing a comprehensive disaster management program. It presents the framework of SDSS, the interrelationship between their various components and how they play a role in decisionmaking.

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