GIS-Based Multi-Criteria Evaluation for Hospital Site Selection: A Systematic Literature Review (2010–2025)

Hospital site selection is a complex spatial decision-making process that significantly influences healthcare accessibility, service efficiency, emergency response, and equitable resource distribution. Increasing population growth, rapid urbanization, and environmental challenges have made conventional site selection approaches inadequate for addressing multiple and often conflicting planning criteria. Consequently, the integration of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE) techniques has emerged as an effective decision-support framework for healthcare facility planning. This study presents a systematic literature review of GIS-based MCE applications for hospital site selection published between 2010 and 2025. Relevant studies were identified through major scientific databases using predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The selected literature was analysed to examine theoretical foundations, methodological approaches, spatial datasets, decision criteria, weighting techniques, validation procedures, and emerging technological developments. The review shows that the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) remains the most widely applied weighting method, although Fuzzy AHP, TOPSIS, ELECTRE, PROMETHEE, VIKOR, and hybrid approaches are increasingly adopted to improve decision accuracy. Frequently used spatial criteria include population density, road accessibility, land use, topography, environmental constraints, infrastructure, and proximity to existing healthcare facilities. Despite the demonstrated effectiveness of GIS–MCE in supporting evidence-based hospital planning, considerable methodological differences exist regarding criteria selection, weighting procedures, validation methods, and data quality. Emerging technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, remote sensing, and cloud-based GIS present new opportunities for enhancing spatial decision-making. The review concludes that more standardized methodological frameworks, stronger validation procedures, and greater integration of advanced analytical techniques are required to improve the reliability and applicability of GIS-based hospital site selection models, particularly in rapidly urbanizing and data-constrained regions.