Maritime Network Analysis Based on Geographic Information System for Water Supply Using Shipboard Seawater Desalination System

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This paper effectively utilized GIS for maritime network analysis to identify optimized water supply routes for island regions. The use of GIS allows for a more comprehensive and systematic approach to water supply planning. The authors used the GoldSim simulator to assess the stability of water supply operations. The manuscript should be reconsidered after major revision. Specific comments are shown as follows.

1. It could be more convincible to add some specific data in Abstract such as network analysis results.

2. The application status of shipboard seawater desalination plant should be described in the Introduction.

3. The clarity of Fig. 2 and Fig.5 should be improved.

4. The reason why Route tool was selected in this study should be given in Section 2.5.

5. “Although the fastest route could be intuitively estimated, a more accurate result was obtained by deriving the optimal path that reflected the actual speed of the ship and restrictions on the sea.” It’s better to delete this sentence.

6. What is the basis for setting the value of constant k?

7. Fig.7 should be further explained.

8. Please check the title of Section 3.2, which is the same as that of Section 3.1.

9. How to evaluate the stability and credibility of the network analysis in this study? Some related parameters should be given in the manuscript.

10. Some of the recent references should be cited in the suitable text (Journal of Cleaner Production 2023, 417, 138029; Journal of Molecular Liquids 2023, 380, 121704)

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Minor editing of English language required

Author Response

Response for Reviewer #1

1. It could be more convincible to add some specific data in the Abstract such as network analysis results.

Ans) The network analysis result was added in the Abstract. (Page 1, line 23-25)

2. The application status of the shipboard seawater desalination plant should be described in the Introduction.

Ans) It was edited. (Page 2, line 16-24)

3. The clarity of Fig. 2 and Fig.5 should be improved.

Ans) It was altered to a high-resolution image.

4. The reason why the Route tool was selected in this study should be given in Section 2.5.

Ans) It is described starting from line 10 on Page 8.

5. “Although the fastest route could be intuitively estimated, a more accurate result was obtained by deriving the optimal path that reflected the actual speed of the ship and restrictions on the sea.” It’s better to delete this sentence.

Ans) It was deleted.

6. What is the basis for setting the value of constant k?

Ans) The k value is an obstacle constant and was divided into four cases depending on the factors that reduce the speed when the ship is moving. The representative route was set based on the speed measured while actually moving.

7. Fig.7 should be further explained.

Ans) Figure 7 is a graph that confirms whether the water tank capacity of the target islands is maintained stably. Quantitative numbers are important, but trends should be the focus.

8. Please check the title of Section 3.2, which is the same as that of Section 3.1.

Ans) There was an editing error. It was modified. (Page 11, line 6)

9. How to evaluate the stability and credibility of the network analysis in this study? Some related parameters should be given in the manuscript.

The Route function of network analysis is a type of navigation, and its stability and credibility have been proven through numerous application cases of ESRI's ArcGIS Pro software. Input variables for network analysis are listed in Section 2.4, and data examples were added to Figure 5.

10. Some of the recent references should be cited in the suitable text (Journal of Cleaner Production 2023, 417, 138029; Journal of Molecular Liquids 2023, 380, 121704)

Ans) It was added. (Reference number 15,16)

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This manuscript discusses the application of software to specific instances. While it is well-written, I do not consider it to be a research paper; it is more of an application case without significant innovation. Consequently, I do not recommend it for publication.

Author Response

This paper does not simply apply software technology to specific instances. There are hundreds of island areas in Korea, and the recent drought caused by climate change has become serious, and a stable water supply has become a social problem. To solve this problem, seawater desalination facilities were manufactured on ships, and drinking water was supplied to island areas. In this study, the originality of this study is that a path optimization technology that combines GIS and water tank level sensing is applied. Please review this manuscript once again for publication. Thank you.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This paper provided the solution method of the water supply for island regions, has important reference value for the design of island water supply schemes. Some questions should be considered in the manuscript.

1) A partial enlarged image can be placed next to Figure 1

2) The flowchart of Figure 4 is not standardized.

3) The distance between each line segment should be marked in Figure 5, so that the data in the later tables (such as Table 5) can be easily calculated.

4) The line types in Figure 7 can be set differently, making the difference more pronounced. Figure 10 is similarly improved.

5) How is "Supply frequency per month" determined in Table 5? Please explain clearly. And in Table 7, it is' Repeat times per month ', is it the same?

6) Is there only one path optimization solution in this paper? Is there any other solution? Multiple options can be compared to choose the optimal path.

Author Response

1) A partial enlarged image can be placed next to Figure 1

Ans) It was placed.

2) The flowchart of Figure 4 is not standardized.

Ans) Figure 4 shows the process of building a network dataset for network analysis in this study. Standardization is difficult because the required dataset and construction process are different for each analysis. The ‘Details process’ connected to the ‘Main process’ in the figure is expressed with an arrow, which seems to have interfered with the interpretation. Detail process shows the actions performed by each main process. This has been corrected to improve clarity.

3) The distance between each line segment should be marked in Figure 5, so that the data in the later tables (such as Table 5) can be easily calculated.

Ans) The scale bar was marked in figures (Figure 8, 11)

4) The line types in Figure 7 can be set differently, making the difference more pronounced. Figure 10 is similarly improved.

Ans) Figure 7 and 10 were edited.

5) How is "Supply frequency per month" determined in Table 5? Please explain clearly. And in Table 7, it is' Repeat times per month ', is it the same?

Ans) "Supply frequency per month" in Table 5 was determined as the minimum number of visits to each island based on 'Amount of water usage' (Table 1). “Repeat times per month” in Table 7 is the number of monthly repeated water supply by each route. (Example: Repeat 'Route 2' 4 times for a month)

6) Is there only one path optimization solution in this paper? Is there any other solution? Multiple options can be compared to choose the optimal path.

Ans) Route optimization is possible under options such as minimum operation distance and minimum operation time, but in this paper, the minimum operation distance was set optimally.

 

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Authors performed a study on Maritime network analysis based on geographic information system for water supply using shipboard seawater desalination system. The study can be pubslihed in this valuable journal after following modifications as:

- It is not necessary to use abbreviation in title.

- Governing parameters must be given in abstract.

- Maritime network can be added to keywords.

What is the originality of the work? It is not clear inside the text. 

Give references for tables if necessary. 

Results part needs an introduction paragraph. 

Conclusion must have quantitative and qualitative results. 

Quality of figure must be improved. It is not easy to read them.

Then, manuscript can be accepted in this journal.  

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Authors performed a study on Maritime network analysis based on geographic information system for water supply using shipboard seawater desalination system. The study can be pubslihed in this valuable journal after following modifications as:

- It is not necessary to use abbreviation in title.

- Governing parameters must be given in abstract.

- Maritime network can be added to keywords.

What is the originality of the work? It is not clear inside the text. 

Give references for tables if necessary. 

Results part needs an introduction paragraph. 

Conclusion must have quantitative and qualitative results. 

Quality of figure must be improved. It is not easy to read them.

Then, manuscript can be accepted in this journal. 

Author Response

- It is not necessary to use an abbreviation in title.

Ans) It was deleted.

- Governing parameters must be given in the abstract.

Ans) Governing parameters were notated in the abstract. (Page 1, line 20-22)

- Maritime network can be added to keywords.

Ans) It was added.

- What is the originality of the work? It is not clear inside the text. 

Ans) In order to apply ‘Shipboard seawater desalination plant(Shipment)’ to small island areas, the existing operation method(Water supply shipment) and Shipboard seawater desalination system operating model were evaluated from two aspects.

1) Stability of water supply for island residents

2) Cost savings through reduction of vessel travel distance

First, stability was assessed by predicting island storage volume using the GoldSim simulator based on the actual residents and water usage of the target area. In addition, the optimal movement route of the shipment was derived through a GIS program and actual sailing cases. Through this, a more efficient water supply model using a shipboard desalination plant than the existing method was proposed.

- Give references for tables if necessary. 

- Results part needs an introduction paragraph. 

Ans) It was divided into an introduction paragraph and a results paragraph.

- Conclusion must have quantitative and qualitative results. 

Ans) It was added. (Page 14, line 16-18)

- Quality of figure must be improved. It is not easy to read them

Ans) The Quality of the figure was modified.

Then, the manuscript can be accepted in this journal.  

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The author has revised the manuscript based on the comments accordingly.

Author Response

Thank you for your review.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

 

I continue to hold the view that this article primarily serves as a software computational illustration. Unless the author can provide concrete application data, my stance remains the same. Therefore, I would recommend a substantial revision.

Author Response

This paper is a prior study to effectively supply water Shipboard seawater desalination plant(DREAMS) to areas where small islands are clustered. The main purpose of this research is to optimize maritime travel routes that have not been systematically constructed using GIS software. Therefore, research should focus on network construction rather than network analysis using software. We created a dataset of maritime roads that had not been converted into data, and confirmed the validity of the data through verification. As your comment, we added 14 page (Lines 1~15). Please focus on this content. Please process this manuscript once again for publication. Thank you.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 3

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The revised version is acceptable.