Abdullah F. Alqurashi^1;2*, Lalit Kumar¹

Show more
¹ School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, Australia.
² Department of Geography, Umm Al-QuraUniversity, Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
Show less

Abstract: Land use/land cover (LULC) changes have become a central issue in current global change and sustainability research. Saudi Arabia has undergone significant change in land use and land cover since the government embarked on a course of intense national development 30 years ago, as a result of huge national oil revenues. This study evaluates LULC change in Makkah and Al-Taif, Saudi Arabia from 1986 to 2013 using Landsat images. Maximum likelihood and object-oriented classification were used to develop LULC maps. The change detection was executed using post-classification comparison and GIS. The results indicated that urban areas have increased over the period by approximately 174% in Makkah and 113% in Al-Taif. Analysis of vegetation cover over the study area showed a variable distribution from year to year due to changing average precipitation in this environment. Object-based classification provided slightly greater accuracy than maximum likelihood classification. Information provided by satellite remote sensing can play an important role in quantifying and understanding the relationship between population growth and LULC changes, which can assist future planning and potential environmental impacts of expanding urban areas.

Keywords: Land Use/Cover Patterns, Landsat Imagery, Makkah, Al-Taif, Urban Growth, Image Classification, Change Detection

Cite this paper: Alqurashi, A. , Kumar, L. (2014) Land Use and Land Cover Change Detection in the Saudi Arabian Desert Cities of Makkah and Al-Taif Using Satellite Data. Advances in Remote Sensing, 3, 106-119. doi: 10.4236/ars.2014.33009.

References

[1]   Friedl, M.A. and Brodley, C.E. (1997) Decision Tree Classification of Land Cover from Remotely Sensed Data. Remote Sensing of Environment, 61, 399-409.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0034-4257(97)00049-7

[2]   Lambin, E.F., Baulies, X., Bockstael, N., Fischer, G., Krug, T., Leemans, R., Moran, E.F., Rindfuss, R.R., Sato, Y., Skole, D., Turner II, B.L. and Vogel, C. (1999) Land-Use and Land-Cover Change (LUCC) Implementation Strategy, USA.

[3]   Zhang, Z., Wang, X., Zhao, X., Liu, B., Yi, L., Zuo, L., Wen, Q., Liu, F., Xu, J. and Hu, S. (2014) A 2010 Update of National Land Use/Cover Database of China at 1:100000 Scale Using Medium Spatial Resolution Satellite Images. Remote Sensing of Environment, 149, 142-154.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2014.04.004

[4]   Zhu, Z. and Woodcock, C.E. (2014) Continuous Change Detection and Classification of Land Cover Using All Available Landsat Data. Remote Sensing of Environment, 144, 152-171.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2014.01.011

[5]   Walker, R. (2001) Urban Sprawl and Natural Areas Encroachment: Linking Land Cover Change and Economic Development in the Florida Everglades. Ecological Economics, 37, 357-369.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0921-8009(01)00178-1

[6]   Giri, C.P. (2012) Remote Sensing of Land Use and Land Cover: Principles and Applications. CRC Press, Boca Raton.

[7]   Lambin, E.F. and Meyfroidt, P. (2011) Global Land Use Change, Economic Globalization, and the Looming Land Scarcity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108, 3465-3472.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1100480108

[8]   Vitousek, P.M., Mooney, H.A., Lubchenco, J. and Melillo, J.M. (1997) Human Domination of Earth’s Ecosystems. Science, 277, 494-499. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.277.5325.494

[9]   Ramankutty, N. and Foley, J.A. (1998) Characterizing Patterns of Global Land Use: An Analysis of Global Croplands Data. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 12, 667-685.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/98GB02512

[10]   Powers, R., Ramirez, L., Redmond, C. and Elberg, E. (1966) Geology of the Arabian Peninsula. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 560, 1-147.

[11]   Mubarak, F.A. (2004) Urban Growth Boundary Policy and Residential Suburbanization: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Habitat International, 28, 567-591. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2003.10.010

[12]   Meyer, W.B. and Turner, B.L. (Eds.) (1994) Changes in Land Use and Land Cover: A Global Perspective. Cambridge University Press, New York, 537 p.

[13]   Sinha, P. and Kumar, L. (2013) Binary Images in Seasonal Land-Cover Change Identification: A Comparative Study in Parts of New South Wales, Australia. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 34, 2162-2186. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2012.742214

[14]   Ramachandra, T. and Kumar, U. (2004) In Geographic Resources Decision Support System for Land Use, Land Cover Dynamics Analysis. Proceedings of the FOSS/GRASS Users Conference, Bangkok, 12-14 September 2004, 12-14.

[15]   Jensen, J.R. (1983) Urban/Suburban Land Use Analysis. American Society of Photogrammetry, 2, 1571-1666.

[16]   Singh, A. (1989) Review Article Digital Change Detection Techniques Using Remotely-Sensed Data. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 10, 989-1003.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01431168908903939

[17]   Lu, D., Mausel, P., Brondízio, E. and Moran, E. (2004) Change Detection Techniques. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 25, 2365-2401. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0143116031000139863

[18]   Alqurashi, A.F. and Kumar, L. (2013) Investigating the Use of Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques to Detect Land Use and Land Cover Change: A Review. Advances in Remote Sensing, 2, 193-204. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ars.2013.22022

[19]   Weng, Q. (2002) Land Use Change Analysis in the Zhujiang Delta of China Using Satellite Remote Sensing, GIS and Stochastic Modelling. Journal of Environmental Management, 64, 273-284. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/jema.2001.0509

[20]   Berlanga-Robles, C.A. and Ruiz-Luna, A. (2011) Integrating Remote Sensing Techniques, Geographical Information Systems (GIS), and Stochastic Models for Monitoring Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) Changes in the Northern Coastal Region of Nayarit, Mexico. GIScience & Remote Sensing, 48, 245-263.

[21]   Chauhan, H. and Nayak, S. (2005) Land Use/land Cover Changes near Hazira Region, Gujarat Using Remote Sensing Satellite Data. Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing, 33, 413-420.

[22]   Dewan, A.M. and Yamaguchi, Y. (2009) Using Remote Sensing and GIS to Detect and Monitor Land Use and Land Cover Change in Dhaka Metropolitan of Bangladesh during 1960-2005. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 150, 237-249. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10661-008-0226-5

[23]   Vittek, M., Brink, A., Donnay, F., Simonetti, D. and Desclée, B. (2014) Land Cover Change Monitoring Using Landsat MSS/TM Satellite Image Data over West Africa between 1975 and 1990. Remote Sensing, 6, 658-676. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs6010658

[24]   Dawod, G.M., Mirza, M.N., Al-Ghamdi, K.A. and Elzahrany, R.A. (2013) Projected Impacts of Land Use and Road Network Changes on Increasing Flood Hazards Using a 4D GIS: A Case Study in Makkah Metropolitan Area, Saudi Arabia. Arabian Journal of Geosciences, 1-18.

[25]   Wardak, A. (2005) Crime and Social Control in Saudi Arabia. In: Transnational and Comparative Criminology, 91-116.

[26]   Li, G., Lu, D., Moran, E. and Hetrick, S. (2011) Land-Cover Classification in a Moist Tropical Region of Brazil with Landsat Thematic Mapper Imagery. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 32, 8207-8230. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2010.532831

[27]   Anderson, J.F., Hardy, E.E., Roach, J.T. and Witmer, R.E. (1976) A Land Use and Land Cover Classification System for Use with Remote Sensor Data. US Geological Survey Professional Paper 964, 28.

[28]   Lu, D. and Weng, Q. (2005) Urban Classification Using Full Spectral Information of Landsat ETM+ Imagery in Marion County, Indiana. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 71, 1275-1284. http://dx.doi.org/10.14358/PERS.71.11.1275

[29]   Xu, H. (2007) Extraction of Urban Built-Up Land Features from Landsat Imagery Using a Thematic-Oriented Index Combination Technique. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 73, 1381. http://dx.doi.org/10.14358/PERS.73.12.1381

[30]   Walter, V. (2004) Object-Based Classification of Remote Sensing Data for Change Detection. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 58, 225-238.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2003.09.007

[31]   Congalton, R.G. and Green, K. (2008) Assessing the Accuracy of Remotely Sensed Data: Principles and Practices. 2nd Edition, CRC Press, Boca Raton.

[32]   Congalton, R.G. (1991) A Review of Assessing the Accuracy of Classifications of Remotely Sensed Data. Remote Sensing of Environment, 37, 35-46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0034-4257(91)90048-B

[33]   Dewan, A.M. and Yamaguchi, Y. (2009) Land Use and Land Cover Change in Greater Dhaka, Bangladesh: Using Remote Sensing to Promote Sustainable Urbanization. Applied Geography, 29, 390-401. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2008.12.005

[34]   Jensen, J.R. (2005) Introductory Digital Image Processing: A Remote Sensing Perspective. 3rd Edition, Clarke, K.C., Ed., Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River.

[35]   Yuan, F., Sawaya, K.E., Loeffelholz, B.C. and Bauer, M.E. (2005) Land Cover Classification and Change Analysis of the Twin Cities (Minnesota) Metropolitan Area by Multitemporal Landsat Remote Sensing. Remote Sensing of Environment, 98, 317-328. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2005.08.006

[36]   Girard, L.F., Forte, B., Cerreta, M., de Toro, P. and Forte, F. (Eds.) (2005) The Human Sustainable City: Challenges and Perspectives from the Habitat Agenda. Ashgate, Aldershot.

[37]   Curwell, S.R. (2007) Sustainable Urban Development: The Environmental Assessment Methods. Taylor & Francis, UK.

[38]   Rahman, A., Aggarwal, S.P., Netzband, M. and Fazal, S. (2011) Monitoring Urban Sprawl Using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques of a Fast Growing Urban Center, India. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, 4, 56-64.

[39]   Pauchard, A., Aguayo, M., Pe?a, E. and Urrutia, R. (2006) Multiple Effects of Urbanization on the Biodiversity of Developing Countries: The Case of a Fast-Growing Metropolitan Area (Concepción, Chile). Biological Conservation, 127, 272-281. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2005.05.015

[40]   Grimmond, S. (2007) Urbanization and Global Environmental Change: Local Effects of Urban Warming. The Geographical Journal, 173, 83-88.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4959.2007.232_3.x

[41]   Rahman, A., Netzband, M., Alka, S. and Javed, M. (2009) An Assessment of Urban Environmental Issues Using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques an Integrated Approach: A Case Study: Delhi, India. Urban Population-Environment Dynamics in the Developing World: Case Studies and Lessons Learned. International Cooperation in National Research in Demography (CICRED), Paris, 181-211.