JOURNAL OF GEO AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

RESEARCH
VOL. 4(1), pp. 26-34, JANUARY 2016
REF NUMBER: 0720160107
ONLINE: http://www.professionaljournals.org/JGESR

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Full length Research Paper

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DETECTING LANDUSE/LANDCOVER CHANGES ALONG THE RING

ROAD IN PESHAWAR CITY USING SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING
AND GIS TECHNIQUES
Zahir Ali1 & Ihsan Ullah2
1Pakistan

Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO),

POBox 8402, Karachi 75270, PAKISTAN.
2Institute of Geography Urban and Regional Planning,
University of Peshawar, Peshawar, PAKISTAN.
Accepted: 25 JANUARY, 2016.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ABSTRACT

any countries in the world are experiencing an unprecedented growth of population and
urbanization. This has resulted in the increased pressure on available resources. This
situation is particularly true in many cities in both developed and developing countries.
The extremely rapid urban and population growth likewise pose numerous pressing
problems to mankind such as environmental degradation, congestion and traffic, crime,
unforeseen swiftness of structural changes, homelessness and unemployment. In order to cope with the
consequences of rapid urban development, there is a strong need for devising an efficient system for urban
landuse planning and management. While realizing the problems of an unprecedented sprawl of urban
areas and its impacts, a study to evolve an operational system of monitoring, mapping and management has
been carried out. This paper highlights the techniques used for extracting all the necessary information for
mapping urban landuse/landcover changes in temporal context. This paper provides an operation solution
for planning and management of urban environment through integrated use of Satellite Remote Sensing
and Geographic Information System.
KEYWORDS:

Landuse, landcover, change detection, remote sensing, digital image processing

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*Corresponding Author. Email: drzahirali@yahoo.com, khattakiu@yahoo.com

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DETECTING LANDUSE/LANDCOVER CHANGES ALONG THE RING ROAD IN PESHAWAR

CITY USING SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUES.

0720160107

INTRODUCTION
Change detection in land use and land cover can be performed on a temporal scale such as a decade to assess
landscape change caused due to anthropogenic activities on the land [1]. These anthropogenic activities on
land are as a result of rapid urbanisation and industrialisation. Land use and land cover change have been
recognised as important drivers of global environment change [2]. Land use and land cover are two separate
terminologies which are often used interchangeably [3]. According to Longley [4], land cover refers to the
physical materials on the surface of a given parcel of land, while land use refers to the human activities that
takes place on or make use of land e.g. residential, commercial, industrial etc. Jensen [5] in his investigation
of urban landscape perceived land use as a way by which human beings utilise land while land cover exists as
a natural environmental system.
Recently cities all over the world have experienced rapid growth because of the rapid increase in
world population and the irreversible flow of people from rural to urban areas. Specifically, in the larger
towns and cities the rate of population increase has been constant and nowadays, many of them are facing
unplanned and uncontrolled settlements at the densely populated sites or fringes [6]. To prevent from such
occasions urban planners need detailed updated maps for thorough planning and management. However,
most city planners have a lack of such maps and often they possess old data which is not relevant for current
decision making. Even if they do not hold a detailed updated map of the city area a regularly updated map
with an acceptable resolution can at least give them an impression about the changes in the city area. With
this rapid growth in population throughout the world, it is crucial to have a well-concerted plan for urban
expansion. Satellite or Airborne images give urban planners synoptic views of large areas which allow them
to lay plans for urban expansion effectively.
This study involves digital change detection of landuse/landcover (from digitally classified satellite
remote sensing data) of two time periods (January 1992 and January 2002). The Date of Pass of satellite
remote sensing plays a significant role in minimizing the ambiguities in change detection arising due to
difference in meteorological conditions. Using 1992 and 2002 SPOT Panchromatic and Multi-Spectral imagery
of the Peshawar area, this paper demonstrates how to use digital enhancement and GIS techniques in
processing those images for urban planning and to monitor changes that took place over the past 10 years.
The aim of this paper is to detect the main changes occurred in southern part of Peshawar city. The study area
is the Ring Road Area of the Peshawar city. The approach used in this study to detect the land use and land
cover changes involved digital change detection using different digital image processing techniques. The
study will assess the capability of knowledge based change detection approach which less dependent on field
observations and secondary data.
OBJECTIVES
The main objective of this research is to assess automatic knowledge-based approaches in digital land use
change by using Digital Image Processing Techniques. This objective could be achieved through:

Spectral classification of multi-temporal images in order to produce landuse and landcover maps.
Derivation of land use information from land cover classes by using the out dated land use maps
supported by the field knowledge expressed in terms of rules.
Combination of knowledge on land cover and land use change in order to produce land use change
map.

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PRO JOURNALS [JGESR] - DETECTING LANDUSE/LANDCOVER CHANGES ALONG THE RING ROAD IN
PESHAWAR CITY USING SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUES.
By Zahir ALI & Ihsan ULLAH

Journal of Geo and Environmental Science Research (JGESR)

DETECTING LANDUSE/LANDCOVER CHANGES ALONG THE RING ROAD IN PESHAWAR

CITY USING SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUES.

0720160107

STUDY AREA
The study area selected is the Ring Road area located in the southern part of Peshawar city. Peshawar is the
capital city of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province which is the northern province of Pakistan. The study
area is located within coordinates of latitude between 33o 55'N & 34o02'N and between 71o27'E & 71o38'E
longitude. The total study area is about 73.03 Sq. km. The average elevation of the study area is
approximately 359 meters in the south above mean sea level in the north. In this area the summers are hot
(45oC as a maximum average temperature) and the winters are cold (5 oC as minimum average temperature).
Agriculture is widely practiced in this area due to presence of rich soil and the abundance of water.

Figure 1: Location of the Study Area

DATASETS AND MATERIALS USED

SPOT scenes having path-row 192-282 acquired on January 1992 and January 2002 were employed in this
study. Other materials used were topographic map sheets of the Survey of Pakistan (having scale 1:50,000).
The topographic maps were used for geometric correction of the satellite data and drawing annotation layer.
Also the ERMapper software was used for data rectification and classification techniques. The datasets used
in this study are;

A topographic map of 1969 at scale 1:50,000

SPOT XS image of 1992
SPOT Panchromatic data of 1992
SPOT XS image of 2002
SPOT Panchromatic data of 2002

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PRO JOURNALS [JGESR] - DETECTING LANDUSE/LANDCOVER CHANGES ALONG THE RING ROAD IN
PESHAWAR CITY USING SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUES.
By Zahir ALI & Ihsan ULLAH

Journal of Geo and Environmental Science Research (JGESR)

DETECTING LANDUSE/LANDCOVER CHANGES ALONG THE RING ROAD IN PESHAWAR

CITY USING SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUES.

0720160107

METHODOLOGY
GEOMETRIC CORRECTION
Geometric correction of the SPOT RAW images was carried out using ERMapper software. First a single SPOT
RAW image was geometrically corrected using image to map rectification technique. Registration of the image
to the 1:50,000 scale topographic maps were done by selecting 25 Ground Control Points (GCPs). The Root
Mean Square (RMS) error accepted was less than 1 pixel (20 m) at the first order and the nearest
neighborhood transformation. Once a single image is rectified, the remaining three images were rectified
using image to image rectification technique. Average RMS error of less than 0.5 is achieved for all the images.
All scenes were radiometrically and geometrically corrected to a map projection LM1PAK1 and
geodetic datum INDIAN75. Some enhancement techniques were also applied to all four scenes to enhance its
information. The common area of the two dates imagery was then selected and subsets were achieved for the
study.
IMAGE CLASSIFICATION
The overall objective of image classification is to automatically categorize all pixels in an image to
landuse/landcover classes or themes. The principle involved is that different features manifest spectral
reflectance and emittance properties [7]. In order to detect the landuse/landcover changes in the study area,
the January 1992 and January 2002 scenes were classified into 20 classes with an unsupervised isodata
classification technique. These classes were combined into a total of five classes which are cultivated land,
plantation/miscellaneous trees, barren land, high build up area and low build up area. Designation of classes
was based on spectral analysis, limited field checking, and the use of band ratios. Image characteristic such as
tone, texture colour and pattern are translated into land use attributes. The translation process (transfer
function) is guided by local knowledge (e.g. landuse/landcover map or agriculture statistics) which was
collected during field work or background studies [8]. Different colours have been assigned to these different
classes/regions for analysis and defined in the legend. After assigning classes, the desired statistics were
calculated and compared with each other for the 10 years change detection. The final False Colour Composite
(FCC) images and Landuse / Landcover images are shown in the Figures.

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PRO JOURNALS [JGESR] - DETECTING LANDUSE/LANDCOVER CHANGES ALONG THE RING ROAD IN
PESHAWAR CITY USING SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUES.
By Zahir ALI & Ihsan ULLAH

Journal of Geo and Environmental Science Research (JGESR)

DETECTING LANDUSE/LANDCOVER CHANGES ALONG THE RING ROAD IN PESHAWAR

CITY USING SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUES.

0720160107

Figure 2: False Colour Composite (FCC) of the study area, having path-row 192-282, Dated January 1992.

Figure 3: False Colour Composite (FCC) of the study area, having path-row 192-282, Dated January 2002

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PRO JOURNALS [JGESR] - DETECTING LANDUSE/LANDCOVER CHANGES ALONG THE RING ROAD IN
PESHAWAR CITY USING SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUES.
By Zahir ALI & Ihsan ULLAH

Journal of Geo and Environmental Science Research (JGESR)

DETECTING LANDUSE/LANDCOVER CHANGES ALONG THE RING ROAD IN PESHAWAR

CITY USING SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUES.

0720160107

Figure 4: Landuse / Landcover of the study area, having path-row 192-282, Dated January 1992

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PRO JOURNALS [JGESR] - DETECTING LANDUSE/LANDCOVER CHANGES ALONG THE RING ROAD IN
PESHAWAR CITY USING SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUES.
By Zahir ALI & Ihsan ULLAH

Journal of Geo and Environmental Science Research (JGESR)

DETECTING LANDUSE/LANDCOVER CHANGES ALONG THE RING ROAD IN PESHAWAR

CITY USING SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUES.

0720160107

Figure 5: Landuse / Landcover of the study area, having path-row 192-282, Dated January 2002

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The performance of the unsupervised maximum likelihood classification was tested for change detection. The
area summary report was prepared for the study area. The areas for each classes/ regions have been
calculated carefully. By comparing these calculations it is found that barren land, cultivated land and low
build up area have decreased while plantation/miscellaneous and high build up area have increased due to
urbanization. The comparison graph for both data has shown below.

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PRO JOURNALS [JGESR] - DETECTING LANDUSE/LANDCOVER CHANGES ALONG THE RING ROAD IN
PESHAWAR CITY USING SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUES.
By Zahir ALI & Ihsan ULLAH

Journal of Geo and Environmental Science Research (JGESR)

DETECTING LANDUSE/LANDCOVER CHANGES ALONG THE RING ROAD IN PESHAWAR

CITY USING SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUES.

0720160107

Figure 6: Comparing landuse categories for both years

An overall increase was found in the build-up area while the cultivated land has been decreased. The main
reason for this cause is the shifting of people from rural areas to city area for their business and other jobs.
Similarly some developmental works in this area because of the Ring Road Project also play an important
role.
The net area (in sq.km) increase or decrease for the different landuse categories delineated from
satellite data of two time periods has shown in the Figure.

Figure 7: The net area increase or decrease in sq.km for the landuse categories in both years

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PRO JOURNALS [JGESR] - DETECTING LANDUSE/LANDCOVER CHANGES ALONG THE RING ROAD IN
PESHAWAR CITY USING SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUES.
By Zahir ALI & Ihsan ULLAH

Journal of Geo and Environmental Science Research (JGESR)

DETECTING LANDUSE/LANDCOVER CHANGES ALONG THE RING ROAD IN PESHAWAR

CITY USING SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUES.

0720160107

CONCLUSIONS
From this study, it is concluded that;

Satellite remote sensing technique is more economical and efficient than conventional mapping
surveys as it reduces field work to some extent.
Multi-date temporal SPOT Panchromatic and Multi-Spectral data can be used and changes can be
mapped that took place over the last years.
The multi-date datasets are required to be rectified and co-registered.
Different change detection techniques can be applied to detect changes.
Verification of the changes in the field is necessary for accuracy assessment.

In a nut shell, the results of this study seem realistic and the areas showing change were in agreement with
ground truth. This study demonstrated that the digital image processing technique is an effective tool in
detecting landuse/landcover changes.

REFERENCES
[1] Gibson, P. and Power, C. (2000). Introductory Remote Sensing: Digital Image Processing and
Applications. Routledge, p. 249, ISBN 0415189616
[2] Turner, M. G., Meyer, W. B., and Skole, D. L. (1994). Global land-use/land-cover change: towards an
integrated study. Ambio, 23, pp. 91-95.
[3] Dimyati, M., Mizuno, K., Kitamura, T. (1996). An Analysis of Land Use/Cover Change using the
combination of MSS Landsat and Land Use Map: A Case Study in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. International
Journal of Remote Sensing, 1996, 17(5), pp. 931 944.
[4] Longley, P., Donnay, J., Barnsley, M. (2001). Remote Sensing and Urban Analysis Taylor and Francis.
London, p.117
[5] Jensen, J., (2007). Remote Sensing of the Environment: An earth Resource Perspective (2nd Edition).
Pearson Education, Inc, p.450.
[6] Amarsaikhan, D., Tsolmongerel, O. (1997). Some Results Of Using Spatial Enhancement Techniques.
Journal of Informatics, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, pp61-68.
[7] Thomas N, Hendrix C, Congalton RG. (2003). A comparison of urban mapping methods using highresolution digital imagery. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 69, pp. 963972.
[8] Quarmby, N.A. and J.L. Cushnie (1989). Monitoring Urban Land Cover Changes at the Urban Fringe
from SPOT HRV Imagery in south-east England. Int. J. of Remote Sensing, 10, pp. 953-963.

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PRO JOURNALS [JGESR] - DETECTING LANDUSE/LANDCOVER CHANGES ALONG THE RING ROAD IN
PESHAWAR CITY USING SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUES.
By Zahir ALI & Ihsan ULLAH

Journal of Geo and Environmental Science Research (JGESR)