Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Landuse/Landcover Change of District Pishin Using Satellite Imagery and GIS

Abstract

Detecting change on the face of the globe using GIS (Geographic Information System) aided by remotely sensed imagery is now becoming an indispensable tool in managing the resources of our planet. The present study with the help of GIS and remote sensing (RS) is also a similar attempt in recording and quantifying change in land use and land cover in district Pishin both in spatial and temporal extents. Satellite imagery was acquired from the USGS official website from three LANDSAT satellites. Theses satellites are LANDSAT 5, LANDSAT7 and LANDSAT 8. The data were acquired for the years 1992, 2003 and 2013. Satellite imagery was processed in ArcMap 10.1 and maximum likelihood supervised image classification was applied in reaching the goal of detecting change. The result of the analysis revealed that built-up area was increased by 5.84%; vegetation was increased by 3.89%; water bodies were increased by 0.05% and bare surfaces were decreased by 9.78%. The decrease in the barren surfaces was attributed to the increase in vegetation and built-up area which replaced the barren land in the study area. This paper also shows the significance and potential of digital change detection methods in managing the resources of our environment and keeping an eye on the land use and land cover of our Earth.