Land Use and Land Cover using GIS

Published on 01 Jul 2021. Written by Vinay Raj

The land cover represents a crucial factor in geographical studies, environmental analysis, and spatial planning approaches. It is a dynamic variable because it reflects the interaction between socio-economic activities and regional environmental changes, and for this reason, it is necessary to be updated frequently.

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Land cover land use terms are usually used together. Therefore, it is essential to define them clearly. Land cover will show the geographical and forest cover of the Earth’s surface including different areas as build-up areas, forests, agricultural areas, wetlands, natural areas, water bodies, and the land use shows the present and upcoming human activities on an area which are planned and labelled as residential, industrial, commercial, agricultural, forestry and barren lands. It is the expression of the human activity developed for social, economic, cultural and political purposes. This means that land cover also includes land use features and map with these features must be represented on different maps.

Land cover affects land use and changes in land use affect land cover. Any changes that occur in land cover by land use do not lead to the loss in fertility or usage of the land. But, many changes in land-use patterns pushed by different means of causes, can result in land cover changes that influence biodiversity. Trace gas emissions which are released into the environment during changes in land use will affect climate and biosphere.

Studies on land use land cover changes are very important for better knowledge of landscape dynamic throughout a known period of time having sustainable management. Land use/cover modifications is a full-size and accelerating process, which will make changes that would impact the natural ecosystem. Understanding landscape patterns, changes, and interactions among human activities and natural phenomenon are vital for proper land control and decision development. Nowadays, earth resource satellites statistics are very useful and applicable for land use/cover change studies.

Requirements:

Knowledge of Remote sensing and GIS.

Need of USGS account for downloading the raw data.

Project Implementation:

1. Download the maps from USGS or any other source.
2. Import them in the GIS software (ArcGIS, QGIS, ERDAS, etc...)
3. Create a false-colour composite.
4. Compare the Land use Land cover change by previous year maps.
5. You can also predict the Land use Land cover of the existing map in the coming years.

Advantages:

• By knowing the fashion of land usage, we can plan for efficient use of the land.
• This can also be used for city planning as we can predict the land use land cover.

Software Requirements:

• You will be needing any GIS package like ArcGIS, Quantum GIS or ERDAS, etc…
• The data you download is in zip format and you need an extracting software to unzip them.
• The data you download will be very high so you need a good internet connection.

Conclusion:

This project will help in distinguishing and assigning the given area to a specific land cover class. We can also know the total area under a specific use, change in the use and also change in total area.

Kit required to develop Land Use and Land Cover using GIS:

• GIS software

Technologies you will learn by working on Land Use and Land Cover using GIS:

• Land Use
• Land Cover
• GIS

Any Questions?