Assessment of Temporal Changes in Land use Pattern over the Kinfra-Vizhinjam Stretch in Thiruvananthapuram City

Author: Aswathy Asok, Smitha Asok V., Rajesh Reghunath

Category: Research Article

Abstract:

Metropolitanization is one of the main causes__ampersandsignnbsp;behind the transformations of the coastal segments__ampersandsignnbsp;of Kerala, where new urban settlements have__ampersandsignnbsp;evolved during last decades. Depending on the__ampersandsignnbsp;monetary and administrative roles, various cities__ampersandsignnbsp;speedily changed to territorial junctions.__ampersandsignnbsp;Urbanization causes land use/land cover changes__ampersandsignnbsp;which can lead to deeper social, economic and__ampersandsignnbsp;environmental changes. Remote sensing technology__ampersandsignnbsp;has great potential for acquisition of detailed and__ampersandsignnbsp;accurate land use information for management and__ampersandsignnbsp;planning of urban regions. Our study area was__ampersandsignnbsp;located between 80 22__ampersandsignrsquo; 45__ampersandsignrsquo;__ampersandsignrsquo; North latitude to 760__ampersandsignnbsp;59__ampersandsignrsquo; 29__ampersandsignrsquo;__ampersandsignrsquo; East longitude (Vizhinjam) and 120 6__ampersandsignrsquo; 77__ampersandsignrsquo;__ampersandsignrsquo;__ampersandsignnbsp;North latitude to 750 24__ampersandsignrsquo; 38__ampersandsignrsquo;__ampersandsignrsquo; East longitude__ampersandsignnbsp;(Kinfra). The main objective of the study was to__ampersandsignnbsp;assess the temporal changes in the landscape spatial__ampersandsignnbsp;pattern to define the growth trends in the area and__ampersandsignnbsp;moreover, to evolve a land use map constructed__ampersandsignnbsp;according to the unsupervised classification__ampersandsignnbsp;technique.

Keywords: change detection, vegetation vigor, unsupervised classification, urban landscape