Analysis of land use and land cover maps suitability for modeling population density of urban areas – redistribution to new spatial units based on CLC and UA databases

The expansion of urban areas is common in metropolitan cities in India. Pune also has experienced rapid growth in the fringe areas of the city. This is mainly on account of the development of the Information Technology (IT) Parks. These IT Parks have been established in different parts of Pune city. They include Hinjewadi, Kharadi, Talwade and others like the IT parks in Magarpatta area. The IT part at Talwade is located to close to Pune Nashik Highway has had an impact on the villages located around it. The surrounding area includes the villages of Talwade, Chikhli, Nighoje, Mahalunge, Khalumbre and Sudumbre. The changes in the land use that have occurred in areas surrounding Talwade IT parks during the last three decades have been studied by analyzing the LANDSAT images of different time periods. The satellite images of the 1992, 2001 and 2011 were analyzed to detect the temporal changes in the land use and land cover. This paper attempts to study the changes in land use / land cover which has taken place in these villages in the last two decades. Such a study can be done effectively with the help of remote sensing and GIS techniques. The tertiary sector has experienced a rapid growth especially during the last decade near the IT Park. The occupation structure of these villages is also related to the changes due to the development of the IT Park. The land use of study area has been analysed using the ground truth applied to the satellite images at decadal interval. Using the digital image processing techniques, the satellite images were then classified and land use / land cover maps were derived. The results show that the area under built-up land has increased by around 14 per cent in the last 20 years. On the contrary, the land under agriculture, barren, pasture has decreased significantly.

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A New Approach to High-Resolution Urban Land Use Classification Using Open Access Software and True Color Satellite Images

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11195266 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (19) ◽

pp. 5266 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Fernando Chapa ◽

Srividya Hariharan ◽

Jochen Hack

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

High Resolution ◽

Land Cover ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Google Earth ◽

Urban Land Use ◽

Land Use Land Cover ◽

Wide Range ◽

True Color ◽

Land Cover Maps

Urbanization nowadays results in the most dynamic and drastic changes in land use/land cover, with a significant impact on the environment. A detailed analysis and assessment of this process is necessary to take informed actions to reduce its impact on the environment and human well-being. In most parts of the world, detailed information on the composition, structure, extent, and temporal changes of urban areas is lacking. The purpose of this study is to present a methodology to produce high-resolution land use/land cover maps by the use of free software and satellite imagery. These maps can help to understand dynamic urbanizations processes to plan, design, and coordinate sustainable urban development plans, especially in areas with limited resources and advancing environmental degradation. A series of high-resolution true color images provided by Google Earth Pro were used to do initial classifications with the Semi-Automatic Classification Plug-in in QGIS. Afterwards, a new methodology to improve the classification by the elimination of shadows and clouds, and a reduction of misclassifications through superimposition was applied. The classification was carried out for three urban areas in León, Nicaragua, with different degrees of urbanization for the years 2009, 2015, and 2018. Finally, the accuracy of the classification was analyzed using randomly defined validation polygons. The results are three sets of high-resolution land use/land cover maps of the initial and the improved classification, showing the detailed structures and temporal dynamics of urbanization. The average accuracy of classification reaches 74%, but up to 85% for the best classification. The results clearly identify advancing urbanization, the loss of vegetation and riparian zones, and threats to urban ecosystems. In general, the level of detail and simplicity of our methodology is a valuable tool to support sustainable urban management, although its application is not limited to these areas and can also be employed to track changes over time, providing therefore, relevant information to a wide range of decision-makers.

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