WEBGIS Application for Planning the Tsunami Evacuation Route

The tsunami that occurred on December 26, 2004 has resulted in massive casualties in Banda Aceh City. As one of the steps to avoid the huge casualty if the tsunami repeats itself, a number of Escape Buildings have been built in the city. In spite of the availability of the Tsunami Escape Buildings, the number of casualties can be reduced only if everyone in the tsunami-prone areas knows the nearest Escape Building from his or her position and the best route to reach the building. The purpose of this research was to build a GIS web application that can help determine the nearest Escape Building from a user-selected location and the best route to reach it. This application utilizes a web service that implements the Dijkstra algorithm to find the closest facility and the best route to the facility. The web GIS application was built using the open source API. The web GIS application developed in this research helps users find the nearest Escape Building and the best route to reach it without the need of any GIS software. The application is easy to use because it provides a user-friendly interface via a web browser.