ABSTRACT
The objective of this work was to make a comparative analysis between the criteria of vehicle operational performance and lesser distance in the determination of the ideal route of forest road transportation, with aid of a geographic information system. Initially it was carried out the vector acquisition and the classification of a net of roads in a forest company. Subsequently, with aid of Spring software, version 4.0, there were conducted eight simulation of ideal route of transport, starting at different points romdomly located in the area of study and with a single destination. The results indicated that there is no significant difference of productivity and cost of transportation among the analyzed criteria. On the other hand, the results showed that the operational performance was the criteria most efficient in the determination of the ideal route of transport, proving the theory that not always the lesser distance is the most economic choice.
Key words:
Forest transportation; geographic information system; ideal route; cost of transport.