Groundwater is one of the most important natural resources for reliable and sustainable water supplies in the world. To understand the use of water resources, the fundamental characteristics of groundwater need to be analyzed, but in many cases, in situ data measurements are not available or are incomplete. In this study, we used GIS and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) techniques for delineation of the groundwater potential zones (GWPZ) in the Titel Municipality (northern Serbia) based on quantitative assessment scores by experts (hydrologists, hydrogeologists, environmental and geoscientists, and agriculture experts). Six thematic layers, such as geology, geomorphology, slope, soil, land use/land cover, and drainage density were prepared and integrated into GIS software for generating the final map. The area falls into five classes: very good (25.68%), good (12.10%), moderate (15.18%), poor (41.34%), and very poor (5.70%). The GWPZ map will serve to improve the management of these natural resources to ensure future water protection and development of the agricultural sector, and the implemented method can be used in other similar natural conditions.
", "keywords": ["Geography (General)", "13. Climate action", "water management", "groundwater; geographic information systems (GIS); water management; fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP)", "groundwater", "0208 environmental biotechnology", "0207 environmental engineering", "geographic information systems (GIS)", "G1-922", "02 engineering and technology", "fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP)", "15. Life on land", "6. Clean water"]}, "links": [{"href": "http://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/11/4/257/pdf"}, {"href": "https://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/11/4/257/pdf"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi11040257"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/ISPRS%20International%20Journal%20of%20Geo-Information", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.3390/ijgi11040257", "name": "item", "description": "10.3390/ijgi11040257", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.3390/ijgi11040257"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2022-04-15T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.3390/land11122200", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:20:49Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2022-12-05", "title": "Land Suitability Analysis as a Tool for Evaluating Soil-Improving Cropping Systems", "description": "Agricultural land use planning is based on the capacity of the soil to support different types of crops and is a prerequisite for better use of cultivated land. Land Suitability Analysis (LSA) is used to measure the level of suitability of growing a specific crop in the area and can also be used to evaluate future scenarios as a means for sustainable agriculture. LSA was employed to calculate current land suitability, as well as four scenarios of Soil-Improving Cropping Systems (SICS): (a) Conservation Tillage (CT), (b) Cover Crop (CC), (c) Crop Residue Management (CRM), and (d) Manure Application (MA). The scenarios of SICS were derived by increasing soil organic matter and cation exchange capacity values depending on the SICS hypothetically applied for a period of 100 years in the future. LSA was evaluated for maize in three sites: (a) Flanders (BE), (b) Somogy (HU), and (c) Hengshui (CH). LSA was performed using the Agricultural Land Use Evaluation System (ALUES) considering soil and climatic and topographic parameters. Weighing factors of input parameters were assigned using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The results show that in Flanders, the highly suitable (S2) class covered 3.3% of the total area, and the best scenario for improving current LS was CRM, in which S2 expanded to 9.1%. In Somogy, the S2 class covered 18.3% of the total area, and the best scenarios for improving current land suitability were CT and CC, in both of which the S2 class expanded to 70.5% of the total area. In Hengshui, the S2 class covered 64.7% of the total area, and all SICS scenarios performed extremely well, converting almost all moderately suitable (S3) areas to S2. The main limiting factor that was recognized from a limiting factor analysis in all cases was the climatic conditions. This work proves that LSA can evaluate scenarios of management practices and recognize limiting factors. The proposed methodology is a novel approach that can provide land suitability maps to efficiently evaluate SICS scenarios by projecting soil characteristics and LSA in the future, thus facilitating management decisions of regional policy makers.
", "keywords": ["IMPACT", "AHP", "Environmental Studies", "land use planning", "Environmental Sciences & Ecology", "3301 Architecture", "01 natural sciences", "4104 Environmental management", "CARBON SEQUESTRATION", "AGROECOLOGY", "MANAGEMENT", "BINH THUAN PROVINCE", "0502 Environmental Science and Management", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences", "2. Zero hunger", "Science & Technology", "DESERTIFICATION", "S", "Agricultural Land Use Evaluation System", "soil fertility", "3304 Urban and regional planning", "Agriculture", "sustainability; soil fertility; land use planning; AHP; ALUES", "ALUES", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "sustainability", "Analytical Hierarchy Process", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Life Sciences & Biomedicine"]}, "links": [{"href": "http://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/12/2200/pdf"}, {"href": "https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/12/2200/pdf"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.3390/land11122200"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Land", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.3390/land11122200", "name": "item", "description": "10.3390/land11122200", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.3390/land11122200"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2022-12-04T00:00:00Z"}}], "links": [{"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "This document as GeoJSON", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=AHP&f=json", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "alternate", "type": "text/html", "title": "This document as HTML", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=AHP&f=html", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection URL", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"type": "application/geo+json", "rel": "first", "title": "items (first)", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=AHP&", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "last", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "items (last)", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=AHP&offset=2", "hreflang": "en-US"}], "numberMatched": 2, "numberReturned": 2, "distributedFeatures": [], "timeStamp": "2026-07-27T06:58:00.677232Z"}