Integrating GIS and Remote Sensing Techniques for Urban Landuse and Landcover Analysis

• Main Author: KAM, Tin Seong
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 1991
• Subjects: Databases and Information Systems; Geographic Information Sciences
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sis_research/1217; http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10106049509354477
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The computer-based GIS, with its remarkable ability to store, retrieve, manipulate and display vast quantities of spatial and attribute data, has become a very useful tool for urban planning. Yet the utility of GIS in urban planning and management is often hampered by a lack of current and sequential land-cover and land use information. This is because most of the geographic information that is input to a GIS must be obtained from out-dated maps. This problem could be overcome by satellite remote sensing technologies, such as the Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and the SPOT High Resolution Visible (HRV), which are very useful for gathering land use and land cover information. However, satellite remote sensing techniques applied to land-cover classification and land-use mapping remain largely experimental since current per-pixel multispectral algorithms are incapable of producing the requisite accuracy for urban and local planning. This paper discusses a relatively simple but accurate automated land-cover and land-use classification technique using a microcomputer-based image analysis and geographic information system. Results obtained with this technique suggest that the integration of GIS capabilities and image analysis techniques can improve significantly the conventional multispectral classification procedure.