Illegal land use change assessment using GIS and remote sensing to support sustainable land management strategies in Taiwan

Land use is changing at accelerated rates in Taiwan, and illegal land use change practices (ILP) are regularly observed within conservation areas. For this reason, we map high-potential areas of ILP within the Soil and water conservation zone (SWCZ) as an aid for effective land management and conducted an exploratory analysis of explanatory variables to evaluate their variability within ILP hot spots. We used variables relevant to hot spots to develop a logistic regression model and identified seven statistically significant variables. We re-applied the logistic regression approach to produce spatially explicit predictions of ILP. High probability areas are distributed along the coastal regions, covering 26% of the SWCZ, and their major drivers are related to accessibility and topography. The results from this research provide relevant information on the major drivers of ILP and high-potential areas, which can support officials in monitoring efforts for better planning and governance within the SWCZ.     

Integrating the system dynamic and cellular automata models to predict land use and land cover change

Land use and land cover change (LULCC) is a widely researched topic in related studies. A number of models have been established to simulate LULCC patterns. However, the integration of the system dynamic (SD) and the cellular automata (CA) model have been rarely employed in LULCC simulations, although it allows for combining the advantages of each approach and therefore improving the simulation accuracy. In this study, we integrated an SD model and a CA model to predict LULCC under three future development scenarios in Northern Shanxi province of China, a typical agro-pastoral transitional zone. The results indicated that our integrated approach represented the impacts of natural and socioeconomic factors on LULCC well, and could accurately simulate the magnitude and spatial pattern of LULCC. The modeling scenarios illustrated that different development pathways would lead to various LULCC patterns. This study demonstrated the advantages of the integration approach for simulating LULCC and suggests that LULCC is affected to a large degree by natural and socioeconomic factors.     

Assessment of Land use/land cover Change in the North-West District of Delhi Using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques

Land is one of the prime natural resources. A city grows not only by population but also by changes in spatial dimensions. Urban population growth and urban sprawl induced land use changes and land transformation. The land transformation is a natural process and cannot be stopped but it can be regulated. Many geographical changes at the urban periphery are associated with the transfer of land from rural to urban purpose. There is an urgent need for fast growing areas like Delhi, which can be easily done by high-resolution remote sensing data. Land use/land cover of North West of Delhi has been analyzed for the time period of 1972?C2003. The remote sensing data used in study is Aster image of 2003 with a spatial resolution of 15?m and other data of 1972 Survey of India (SOI) toposheet at the scale of 1:50,000. Supervised digital classification using maximum likelihood classifier was applied for preparing land use/land cover. A change detection model was applied in ERDAS Imagine to find out the land use/land cover during 1972 to 2003. Eight land use classes was identified but main dominated classes were built up and agricultural land. A drastic change has been recorded during 30 years of time i. e. (1972-2003). In 1972, 92.06% of the land was under agricultural practice, which reduced to 64.71% in 2003. This shows 27.35% decrease in agricultural land in three decades. On the other hand built up area was 6.31% in 1972, which increased to 34% in 2003. One of the main cause of this land use change is the population growth due to the migration in the district from small cities and rural areas of Delhi.     

GIS-based spatiotemporal analysis of forest fires in Turkey from 2010 to 2020

Forests are essential in contributing to the continuity of the natural balance. Therefore, their protection and sustainability are vital. However, all over the world, forest fires occur, and forests are destroyed due to both human factors and unknown causes. It is necessary to carry out studies to prevent this destruction. At this point, GIS-based location–time relationship-based hot spot clustering analysis can provide significant advantages in detecting risky spots of forest fires. In this study, GIS-based emerging hot spot clustering analysis was carried out to determine the risky areas where forest fires will occur and to carry out preventive studies in the relevant areas. Turkey was chosen as the pilot region, and analyses were carried out using the data obtained from the official statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry General Directorate of Forestry according to the causes of the fires (negligence, intentional, accidental, unknown cause and natural) between the years 2010 and 2020. Spatial autocorrelation analysis was conducted for each fire type, and threshold distances were determined {with a number of distance bands = 20,000, distant increment = 10,000}. Emerging hot spot analyses were then conducted, and the results were presented as maps and statistical outputs. According to all fire types, 15 new hot spots, 14 persistent hot spots, 33 sporadic hot spots, 9 consecutive hot spots, 15 intensifying, and 2 diminishing hot spot regions were obtained throughout the country.     

RNDSI: A ratio normalized difference soil index for remote sensing of urban/suburban environments

Understanding land use land cover change (LULCC) is a prerequisite for urban planning and environment management. For LULCC studies in urban/suburban environments, the abundance and spatial distributions of bare soil are essential due to its biophysically different properties when compared to anthropologic materials. Soil, however, is very difficult to be identified using remote sensing technologies majorly due to its complex physical and chemical compositions, as well as the lack of a direct relationship between soil abundance and its spectral signatures. This paper presents an empirical approach to enhance soil information through developing the ratio normalized difference soil index (RNDSI). The first step involves the generation of random samples of three major land cover types, namely soil, impervious surface areas (ISAs), and vegetation. With spectral signatures of these samples, a normalized difference soil index (NDSI) was proposed using the combination of bands 7 and 2 of Landsat Thematic Mapper Image. Finally, a ratio index was developed to further highlight soil covers through dividing the NDSI by the first component of tasseled cap transformation (TC1). Qualitative (e.g., frequency histogram and box charts) and quantitative analyses (e.g., spectral discrimination index and classification accuracy) were adopted to examine the performance of the developed RNDSI. Analyses of results and comparative analyses with two other relevant indices, biophysical composition index (BCI) and enhanced built-up and bareness Index (EBBI), indicate that RNDSI is promising in separating soil from ISAs and vegetation, and can serve as an input to LULCC models.     

A framework for identifying spatiotemporal hot spots of speculative land transactions using prospective monitoring procedures: the case of South Korea

Abnormally high-priced transactions in urban land speculation bring detrimental effects on economy, environment, and society. Governmental agencies around the world are striving hard to monitor and control land speculation by introducing various policy objectives and tools for an efficient urban development planning. One of the major challenges in controlling land speculation is to quickly identify the spatiotemporal locations of concern (hot spots) by monitoring the spatial clustering pattern changes over time and to alert the appropriate decision-making agencies for timely policy intervention. In this paper, we introduce a framework to rapidly detect the spatiotemporal hot spots of speculative land transactions in near-real-time data by exploiting the prospective monitoring procedures. We applied this method in the city of Hwasung, Republic of Korea, as an empirical illustration and found that the locations Jeongnam, Bongdam, Mado, and Dongtan were identified as hot spots with high, concentrated transaction values. The results indicate that the proposed framework is a capable tool for capturing prospective temporal indicators and pinpointing the localities of land speculation.     

基于空间连续数据的小流域景观格局破碎化研究

基于空间连续数据，采用局部空间关联指标（LISA）——局部Moran指数（Local Moran Index, LMI），通过探测小流域内景观均质性和异质性的变化情况来反映景观格局破碎化的变化过程。作为一种空间明确的景观格局研究方法，LMI能够发现流域景观格局变化过程中的热点地区，并分析其与流域土地利用变化之间的联系，明确了土地利用变化是引起小流域景观格局变化的最主要的驱动因素。研究表明，基于空间连续数据的局部空间关联指标方法可以作为传统景观格局变化研究方法的有益补充。     

Simulating the effects of land use changes on soil erosion using RUSLE model

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impacts of land use change on soil loss. Soil loss was quantified using the revised universal soil loss equation model in Darabkola catchment. Land use maps of 1992, 1998 and 2012 were derived from Landsat Thematic Mapper data. The mean annual soil loss was therefore determined for these years. The results showed open-canopy forest area decreased by 36% between 1992 and 1998. Likewise, the decreasing trend of forest lands which are near to residential areas has continued from 1795 ha in 1998 to 1765 ha in 2012. Also the results indicate that the maximum annual soil loss ranged from 5.06, 6.19 and 15.23 ton h^?1 y^?1 in 1992, 1998 and 2012, respectively. Also, by assuming that all watershed conditions and land uses be constant in the future, then the area of close- and open-canopy forest and dry agricultural lands will be 23.23, 2.88 and 29.89 ha in 2040, respectively.     

利用时空立方体挖掘小微地震时空演变模式

挖掘分析小微地震的时空演变模式，可为地震灾害的分析与预报提供辅助决策参考。本文以四川地区的地震监测数据为基础，利用时空立方体融合地震点的空间、时间与属性数据，基于时空热点统计分析方法挖掘小微地震的时空冷热点分布模式。试验结果表明：在试验数据的时域内，四川地区小微地震的热点模式主要表现为连续热点、逐渐减少热点和振荡热点。冷点模式主要是连续冷点，且冷点覆盖范围比热点覆盖范围广。基于时空立方体的时空热点分析方法能够发挥时空统计学的优势，可有效挖掘分析小微地震的时空演变趋势。     

Measures of spatio-temporal accuracy for time series land cover data

Remote sensing is a useful tool for monitoring changes in land cover over time. The accuracy of such time-series analyses has hitherto only been assessed using confusion matrices. The matrix allows global measures of user, producer and overall accuracies to be generated, but lacks consideration of any spatial aspects of accuracy. It is well known that land cover errors are typically spatially auto-correlated and can have a distinct spatial distribution. As yet little work has considered the temporal dimension and investigated the persistence or errors in both geographic and temporal dimensions. Spatio-temporal errors can have a profound impact on both change detection and on environmental monitoring and modelling activities using land cover data. This study investigated methods for describing the spatio-temporal characteristics of classification accuracy. Annual thematic maps were created using a random forest classification of MODIS data over the Jakarta metropolitan areas for the period of 2001–2013. A logistic geographically weighted model was used to estimate annual spatial measures of user, producer and overall accuracies. A principal component analysis was then used to extract summaries of the multi-temporal accuracy. The results showed how the spatial distribution of user and producer accuracy varied over space and time, and overall spatial variance was confirmed by the principal component analysis. The results indicated that areas of homogeneous land cover were mapped with relatively high accuracy and low variability, and areas of mixed land cover with the opposite characteristics. A multi-temporal spatial approach to accuracy is shown to provide more informative measures of accuracy, allowing map producers and users to evaluate time series thematic maps more comprehensively than a standard confusion matrix approach. The need to identify suitable properties for a temporal kernel are discussed.     

A Bayesian characterization of urban land use configurations from VHR remote sensing images

The composition and arrangement of spatial entities, i.e., land cover objects, play a key role in distinguishing land use types from very high resolution (VHR) remote sensing images, in particular in urban environments. This paper presents a new method to characterize the spatial arrangement for urban land use extraction using VHR images. We derive an adjacency unit matrix to represent the spatial arrangement of land cover objects obtained from a VHR image, and use a graph convolutional network to quantify the spatial arrangement by extracting hidden features from adjacency unit matrices. The distribution of the spatial arrangement variables, i.e., hidden features, and the spatial composition variables, i.e., widely used land use indicators, are then estimated. We use a Bayesian method to integrate the variables of spatial arrangement and composition for urban land use extraction. Experiments were conducted using three VHR images acquired in two urban areas: a Pleiades image in Wuhan in 2013, a Superview image in Wuhan in 2019, and a GeoEye image in Oklahoma City in 2012. Our results show that the proposed method provides an effective means to characterize the spatial arrangement of land cover objects, and produces urban land use extractions with overall accuracies (i.e., 86% and 93%) higher than existing methods (i.e., 83% and 88%) that use spatial arrangement information based on building types on the Pleiades and GeoEye datasets. Moreover, it is unnecessary to further categorize the dominant land cover type into finer types for the characterization of spatial arrangement. We conclude that the proposed method has a high potential for the characterization of urban structure using different VHR images, and for the extraction of urban land use in different urban areas.     

Modelling the impacts of civil war on land use and land cover change within Kono District,Sierra Leone: a socio-geospatial approach

Capturing the scope and trajectory of changes in land use and land cover (LULC) is critical to urban and regional planning, natural resource sustainability and the overall information needs of policy makers. Studies on LULC change are generally conducted within peaceful environments and seldom incorporate areas that are politically volatile. Consequently, the role of civil conflict on LULC change remains elusive. Using a dense time stack of Landsat Thematic Mapper images and a hybrid classification approach, this study analysed LULC changes in Kono District between 1986–1991, 1991–2002 and 2002–2007 with the overarching goal of elucidating deviations from typical changes in LULC caused by Sierra Leone's civil war (1991–2002). Informed by social survey and secondary data, this study engaged the drivers that facilitated LULC changes during war and non-war periods in a series of spatial regression models in exploring the interface between civil conflict and LULC change.     

Temporal logic and operation relations based knowledge representation for land cover change web services

Providing land cover spatio-temporal information and geo-computing through web service is a new challenge for supporting global change research, earth system simulation and many other societal benefit areas. This requires an integrated knowledge representation and web implementation of static land cover and change information, as well as the related operations for geo-computing. The temporal logic relations among land cover snapshots and increments were examined with a matrix-based three-step analysis. Twelve temporal logic relations were identified and five basic spatial operations were formalized with set operators, which were all used to develop algorithms for deriving implicit change information. A knowledge representation for land cover change information was then developed based on these temporal logic and operation relations. A prototype web-service system was further implemented based on OWL-DL. Both online access and conversion of land cover spatio-temporal information can be facilitated with such a web service system.     

Towards automated 10–30 m resolution land cover mapping in insular South-East Asia

In this study, we create and critically analyse an automated decision tree classification approach for regional level land cover mapping in insular South-East Asian conditions, using a combination of 10–30 m resolution optical and radar data. The resulting map contains 11 land cover classes and reveals a great deal of contextual information due to high spatial resolution. A limited accuracy assessment indicates 59–97% class wise accuracies. The unprecedented spatial detail of closed canopy oil palm mapping (with user’s accuracy of 90%) is seen as the most promising feature of the mapping approach. The incapability of separating primary forests from other tree cover, and the large variety of different landscapes (e.g. home gardens and tea plantations) classified as shrubland, are considered the main areas for future improvement. Overall, the study demonstrates the great potential of multi-source 10–30 m resolution high data volume land cover mapping approaches in insular South-East Asian conditions.     

城市交通热点区域识别及空间交互分析

出租车载客数据可以用于研究居民的出行特征,提取城市的交通热点区域,但对城市交通热点区域的交互关系研究相对较少。本文以纽约市的出租车行程记录数据为数据源,利用交通小区划分结合出租车载客数据提取城市交通热点区域,基于复杂网络的方法对不同日期类型和天气情况的城市交通热点区域空间交互网络进行研究并进行社区发现。结果表明,热点区域受城市核心区的影响而聚集在核心区域周围,城市内社区的形成可以克服地形和行政区域等因素的影响。研究结论有望为城市规划、城市交通管理、出租车调度、以及人们的出行等提供信息参考。     

GIS-based modeling of a rescaled surface of land development pressure in the Macaronesian islands

Land development is one of the major anthropogenic processes shaping environmental sustainability. However, no standard method exists for evaluating this spatial process. This article proposes a method of modeling a spatially explicit representation of land development pressure, resorting to an inverse distance weighting interpolation. The study area encompasses four Macaronesian islands where land development has caused dramatic changes to the landscape: São Miguel, Madeira, Gran Canaria, and Tenerife. The method is demonstrated over 1990–2006, a period marked by a rapid increase in land development which ended with the 2007–2008 financial crisis. First, centroids of land change in/into artificial surfaces were used as a proxy of land development pressure. Second, these centroids were coupled with ancillary sampled points, which took into account a topographic resistance factor representing areas absent of land change. These ancillary points allowed for confinement of the interpolation values while acting as structural information for the rescaling of the interpolation into a higher resolution of a digital elevation model. The results show that the method captured the overall trend and magnitude of artificial land change. Quantifying and identifying the islands’ pattern of land development pressure creates a variable that can play an important role in further modeling of anthropogenic spatial processes.     

Identification of environmental anomaly hot spots in West Africa from time series of NDVI and rainfall

Studies of the impact of human activity on vegetation dynamics of the Sahelian belt of Africa have been recently re-invigorated by new scientific findings that highlighted the primary role of climate in the drought crises of the 1970s–1980s. Time series of satellite observations revealed a re-greening of the Sahelian belt that indicates no noteworthy human effect on vegetation dynamics at sub continental scale from the 1980s to late 1990s. However, several regional/local crises related to natural resources occurred in the last decades despite the re-greening thus underlying that more detailed studies are needed. In this study we used time-series (1998–2010) of SPOT–VGT NDVI and FEWS–RFE rainfall estimates to analyse vegetation – rainfall correlation and to map areas of local environmental anomalies where significant vegetation variations (increase/decrease) are not fully explained by seasonal changes of rainfall. Some of these anomalous zones (hot spots) were further analysed with higher resolution images Landsat TM/ETM+ to evaluate the reliability of the identified anomalous behaviour and to provide an interpretation of some example hot spots. The frequency distribution of the hot spots among the land cover classes of the GlobCover map shows that increase in vegetation greenness is mainly located in the more humid southern part and close to inland water bodies where it is likely to be related to the expansion/intensification of irrigated agricultural activities. On the contrary, a decrease in vegetation greenness occurs mainly in the northern part (12°–15°N) in correspondence with herbaceous vegetation covers where pastoral and cropping practices are often critical due to low and very unpredictable rainfall. The results of this study show that even if a general positive re-greening due to increased rainfall is evident for the entire Sahel, some local anomalous hot spots exist and can be explained by human factors such as population growth whose level reaches the ecosystem carrying capacity as well as population displacement leading to vegetation recovery.     

Drivers of land cover and land use changes in St. Louis metropolitan area over the past 40 years characterized by remote sensing and census population data

In this study, we explored the spatial and temporal patterns of land cover and land use (LCLU) and population change dynamics in the St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area. The goal of this paper was to quantify the drivers of LCLU using long-term Landsat data from 1972 to 2010. First, we produced LCLU maps by using Landsat images from 1972, 1982, 1990, 2000, and 2010. Next, tract level population data of 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010 were converted to 1-km square grid cells. Then, the LCLU maps were integrated with basic grid cell data to represent the proportion of each land cover category within a grid cell area. Finally, the proportional land cover maps and population census data were combined to investigate the relationship between land cover and population change based on grid cells using Pearson's correlation coefficient, ordinary least square (OLS), and local level geographically weighted regression (GWR). Land cover changes in terms of the percentage of area affected and rates of change were compared with population census data with a focus on the analysis of the spatial-temporal dynamics of urban growth patterns. The correlation coefficients of land cover categories and population changes were calculated for two decadal intervals between 1970 and 2010. Our results showed a causal relationship between LCLU changes and population dynamics over the last 40 years. Urban sprawl was positively correlated with population change. However, the relationship was not linear over space and time. Spatial heterogeneity and variations in the relationship demonstrate that urban sprawl was positively correlated with population changes in suburban area and negatively correlated in urban core and inner suburban area of the St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area. These results suggest that the imagery reflects processes of urban growth, inner-city decline, population migration, and social spatial inequality. The implications provide guidance for sustainable urban planning and development. We also demonstrate that grid cells allow robust synthesis of remote sensing and socioeconomic data to advance our knowledge of urban growth dynamics from both spatial and temporal scales and its association with population change.     

Spatiotemporal multiscale diagnosis model to proactively respond to the multi-country monkeypox virus outbreak in 2022

This research analyzes the spatiotemporal trend of 23,121 monkeypox virus cases in the multi-country outbreak that affected 82 countries from January 2022 to July 2022. The spatiotemporal trends analysis is developed using open data and GIS to model 3D bins and emerging hot spots globally (data by country) and nationally (data by region) for hardest hit countries, like the USA and Spain. The implemented methodology distinguishes between problem areas —as significant hot spots— and countries with no pattern. Results show consecutive hot spot patterns in Western Europe and high location quotients in North America. Factually, the countries with consecutive patterns record 16,494 cases, that is, 71.34% of the cases, where 7.63% of the world population live. At the national level, in the analysis of the USA and Spain, the results reveal regional differences with significative hot spots in California and on the East Coast of the USA and the Mediterranean coast of Spain. The proposed methodology facilitates the monitoring of the spatiotemporal evolution of monkeypox cases and is scalable and replicable using non-arbitrary and statistical parameters. The findings indicate problematic zones in real-time, enabling policymakers to develop focused interventions and proactive strategies to mitigate the future risk of monkeypox.