An urban emergency shelter provides a place of temporary life and shelter for victims after a disaster. As a very important public service facility, its spatial layout is greatly related to the security of lives and the property of the urban residents. Upholding the concept of sustainable disaster reduction, this study took the central urban area of Xuzhou as an example. Based on the analysis of ArcGIS software, this study analyzed and planned the spatial layout of emergency shelters in Xuzhou and visualized the service area ratio, service population ratio, service capacity ratio, and service overlap rate of each administrative district. Finally, 73 fixed emergency shelters were determined, among which eight were classified as central shelters. At the same time, through consulting the relevant data, it was found that similar problems such as potential safety hazard, blind areas, service overlapping, and mismatch of shelter layout and actual needs also exist in other cities. Finally, in light of the existing problems, relevant suggestions are provided for the adjustment and optimization of the layout of emergency shelters.
Keywords: ArcGIS; central urban area of Xuzhou; emergency shelter; layout optimization.