GIS and multi-criteria decision-making analysis assessment of land suitability for rapeseed farming in calcareous soils of semi-arid regions

•Input data were topography, soil data and remote sensing data in calcareous soils of Iran.•The highest specific weight belongs to soil texture, calcium carbonate equivalent and elevation.•0.8%, 42.3% and 11.8% of studied area were classified as S1, S2 and S3 classes, respectively.•39.7% and 0.95% of studied area were located in N1 and N2 classes, respectively.