Dynamic processes in society and demographics require a rapid response and adaptation of the existing public service infrastructure. Responsible planners must be able to analyse the situation, identify gaps in provision and derive decisions. The paper presents a web application that supports finding answers to various questions and planning decisions in the context of public service infrastructures (e.g., schools, pharmacies, supermarkets). Due to the high complexity, the combination of multi-criteria decision analysis and geographical information systems, especially in the web context, is still rarely implemented. With this spatial decision support system, we are pursuing an approach that makes multi-criteria analyses with spatially explicit methods available to the planning domain. By using this application, the user can select and adjust input parameters independently and thus strongly influence the analysis process and results—without a deep knowledge of decision-making methods or software skills. With such a centrally provided online multi-criteria spatial decision support system, the transparency and the quality of the analysis increase, while the workload for the planners is reduced, since they no longer have to spend time on preliminary data search and integration or on building complex methods and models themselves.

The planning of health care facilities and the analysis of the medical care situation are complex topics that generally involve geographical and, specifically, settlement topographical, methodological, data-driven aspects. However, formal analyses and planning in the field of healthcare usually only touch on the aspects or do not fully include some of them. As a result, the complex situation is often not accurately. This paper addresses the multidimensional challenges planners and analysts face. Solutions to overcome these hurdles thanks to improved data availability and more advanced technical and methodological possibilities are presented. For this purpose, a Web-Application is proposed that enables planners without GIS knowledge to interact with method components via parameter adjustments. Subsequently, it is examined whether the technical prerequisites for the implementation of a Web-Application for health planning, in particular for outpatient demand planning and analysis, are given and make a proposal for implementation. Finally, the advantages, disadvantages and possible complications of using this Application in health planning and analysis, including critical points of implementation, will be addressed.