Methods and systems are provided for automatically coordinating protection settings for relays within an electrical power distribution network. A method includes using a graph traversal mechanism to analyze geographical-based equipment data that contains information about overcurrent relays within the electrical power distribution network. A customizable rule base is applied to protection guidelines. Protection settings are determined based upon the applied customizable rule base and the direction of fault current flow from each source. The determined protection settings are used for the overcurrent relays to control switches in the electrical power distribution network in response to a detected fault.