@ARTICLE{10.21494/ISTE.OP.2024.1135, TITLE={A state-of-the-art review of Geographic Information System applications, the main criteria of selection, and available data that may be used in the process of site selection for floating offshore wind farms}, AUTHOR={Krzysztof Szczepaniec , Fergal O’Rourke , Peter Ryan, }, JOURNAL={Entropy: Thermodynamics – Energy – Environment – Economy }, VOLUME={4}, NUMBER={Special issue ECOS}, YEAR={2024}, URL={https://www.openscience.fr/A-state-of-the-art-review-of-Geographic-Information-System-applications-the}, DOI={10.21494/ISTE.OP.2024.1135}, ISSN={2634-1476}, ABSTRACT={The energy crisis, global warming, and rising energy consumption have positioned renewable energy as a priority from national and international planning perspectives. Not only to reach the goals of the renewable energy mix, but also as part of overall energy security strategy. Rising energy prices and supply concerns have made the need for energy changes tangible for society and have increased public awareness of renewable energy. To achieve its renewable energy targets, Ireland has placed a focus on the development of offshore wind energy projects, due to its massive potential in the region. Other regions have already commenced the deployment of large-scale offshore wind farms and the technology is now competitive with fossil fuels. This work presents a comparison of Geographic Information System (GIS) applications and Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) methods applied in the process of multicriteria site selection for Floating Offshore Wind Farms (FOWF) and highlights current trends in FOWF site selection and characterisation. This work is an objective review of the methodologies applied by researchers and a discussion of their adequacy to find the answer to the research questions posed by industry. Furthermore, it outlines the limitations of the methods and comments on the chosen criteria in the context of reaching the researches objectives. It also highlights the suitability of the industry standards methods and best practices. Finally, the work attempts to map the next steps that shall be taken to improve the methodology for criteria selection.}}