ANALYSIS OF LAND USE LAND COVER MAP

Introduction
 
The terms land use and land cover are often used interchangeably, but each term
has its own unique meaning. Land cover refers to the surface cover on the
ground like vegetation, urban infrastructure, water, bare soil etc.
Identification of land cover establishes the baseline information for activities
like thematic mapping and change detection analysis. Land use refers to the
purpose the land serves, for example, recreation, wildlife habitat, or
agriculture. 
 
When used together with the phrase Land Use / Land Cover (LULC) generally
refers to the categorization or classification of human activities and natural
elements on the landscape within a specific time frame based on established
scientific and statistical methods of analysis of appropriate source materials.
 
Land cover is the physical material at the surface of the earth. Land use is the
description of how people utilize the land for the socio-economic activities.
 
Why do we need LULC Maps?
 
The growth of a society totally depends on its social and economical
development. This is the basic reason why socio-economic surveys are carried
out. This type of survey includes both spatial and non-spatial datasets. LULC
maps play a significant and prime role in planning, management and
monitoring programmes at local, regional and national levels. This type of
information, on one hand, provides a better understanding of land utilization
aspects and on the other hand, it plays an important role in the formation of
policies and programme required for development planning. For ensuring
sustainable development, it is necessary to monitor the on going process on
land use/land cover pattern over a period of time. In order to achieve
sustainable urban development and to check the haphazard development of
towns and cities, it is necessary that authorities associated with the urban
development generate such planning models so that every bit of available land
can be used in most rational and optimal way. This requires the present and past
land use/land cover information of the area. LULC maps also help us to study
the changes that are happening in our ecosystem and environment. If we have
an inch by inch information about Land Use/Land Cover of the study unit we
can make policies and launch programmes to save our environment.
 
Change detection is shown at the same region at two different time periods
using LULC map
 
LULC classification
 
LULC classification is one of the most widely used applications in remote
sensing. The most commonly used approaches include :
LULC classification

Unsupervise Supervised
d
 

->Unsupervised classification (calculated by software)

 
This type of classification is based on the software analysis of an image without
the user provided sample classes. This involves grouping of pixels with
common characteristics. The computer uses techniques to determine which
pixels are related and groups them into classes. The user can specify which
algorithm the software will use and the desired number of output classes but
otherwise does not aid in the classification process. However, the user must
have knowledge of the area being classified (such as wetlands, developed areas,
coniferous forests, etc.).
  
->Supervised classification (human guided)
 
 This is based on the idea that a user can select sample pixels in an image that
are representative of specific classes and then direct the image processing
software to use these training sites as references for the classification of all
other pixels in the image. Training sites (also known as testing sets or input
classes) are selected based on the knowledge of the user. The user also sets the
bounds for how similar other pixels must be to group them together. These
bounds are often set based on the spectral characteristics of the training area,
plus or minus a certain increment (often based on "brightness" or strength of
reflection in specific spectral bands). The user also designates the number of
classes that the image is classified into.
Following are the further Land use Land cover classification of Dehradun
district of Uttarakhand : Vegetation , Agriculture , Barren land, Water bodies ,
Urban land.

 AGRICULTURAL LAND - The development leads to the

disappearance or decline of vegetation land to build up uses. As the
city built up areas expand, vegetation is pushed outwards and most of
the cultivated area is using for residential purposes. These newly
developed residential areas have hardly any infrastructure services.
 VEGETATION – One sees the illogicality overcrowding and vast
amount of partially developed land. The natural landscape close to
the city is destroyed. Today mostly in all the cities of India the need to
provide shelter to the increasing population is making the city
expand along its boundaries, along the roads submerge
 WATER BODIES – This category comprises area with surface
water either impounded in the form of ponds, lakes and reservoir or
flowing as streams , rivers , canals , etc. In a satellite image, water body
clearly appears in blue/dark blue/cyan tone depending upon the depth of
water body.
 URBAN AREA - With the rising Population, to accommodate the
people, the demand for housing is increasing continually. To fulfill the
increasing requirement of housing, cutting of trees is increasing.
Green lands are converting to the buildup areas. To fulfill the
increasing housing demands builders are making more mid-rise
housing apartment.

One sees the illogicality overcrowding and vast amount of partially

developed land. The natural landscape close to the city is destroyed.
Today mostly in all the cities of India the need to provide shelter to the
increasing population is making the city expand along its boundaries,
along the roads submerge.

 BARREN LAND – This is a land which can be brought under

vegetation cover with reasonable efforts . This land is currently under –
utilized , and which is deteriorating due to lack of appropriate soil and
water management.
 Significance of LULC maps :

 Identification of forest density and land areas .

 Wildlife habitat mapping .
 Urban – cultural applications = Parking , transport , residential
activities .
 Baseline mapping for GIS input.
 Large project site location .
 Natural hazard investigation.
 Post disaster damage surveys.
 Water pollution investigations.
 Legal boundaries for tax and property evaluation .

AIMS :

(a.) To digitize the LULC map of uttarakhand .

(b.) To calculate the area of each LULC category from the map.

DATA SOURCE :
LULC map of dehradun district of Uttarakhand taken from google .

Methodology :
1) Open already georeferenced map of Dehradun to the map canvas using add
raster data .

2) Create new shape file layer to digitize several areas accordingly i.e.
i) Forest layer
ii) Barren land
iii) Agricultural land
iv) Water bodies
v) Urban areas

3) Select the areas in a layer to get merged using selection tool .

i) Click on vector >Geoprocessing Tools > Dissolve .
ii) Check the selected features only by clicking on check box and then
name the dissolved layer and then finally RUN the process.
 Similarly do the same with other layers too . Generally , merging is required
to get a single polygon instead of getting more and different polygons.

After digitizing the land luse land cover map , the next step is calculation of
area under each land use and land cover . This involves the following steps :

1. Go to the layer panel .

2. Click on the layer of which you want to calculate the area , and
then left click , ‘open attribute table’.
3. Then enable toggle editing tool.
4. Click on ‘open field calculator’.
5. Fill the required details as follows :
 Output field name – area in km
 Output field type – decimal number (real)
 Output field length – default
 Precision – default
6. Then go to ‘row number’ and double click to ‘Geometry’ and
select ‘$area’ function then go to ‘expression’ area box and type
the formula given below –

$area / ( 1000 * 1000)

 7. Click ‘OK’ .
8. The new field titled as ‘Area in km’ will be shown in attribute
table and will show area of each polygon .

PRINT LAYOUT : Steps to add other important features to map are as

follows :

 To create a Layout for the map click Project > New print Layout . Add
the name of the file .
 Using toolbox add following features in the map stepwise –
1. Add map
2. Add title
3. Add legend
4. Add scale
5. Add north arrow
  We can also change the properties of every feature from ‘Item
properties panel’.
 Click Layout > Export as image../Export as PDF ..

ANALYSIS :

 The resulted map shown above ,depicts the land use land cover
classification for the year of 2018 , Dehradun district.
 But before that , lets observe the changes since the year , 2000 – 2009.
LULC classification 2000 - 2009
  From the  current study it is evident that there is considerable decrease in
the in forest cover for the period of 2000 to  2009.
 Barren/Scrub and  Builtup  class is showing an increasing trend and there-
by  resulting  to the  inference that the  population pressure  is playing  a 
very active  role  towards diminishing  forest  cover.
 The increasing urban  population pressures is putting tremendous
pressure on the land use & landcover of Doon  valley.
 The expansion of agriculture land can also be  attributed  to  increasing 
demand to  feed  the  growing  population.
 The  decline  in  the  area  of the  scrub land  is due  its conversion to 
arable land.
  The water body(seasonal streams) has shown  little change area due to
encroachment slum dwellers and land developers.

LULC Classification - 2018

Land use class Area (in sq.km) Characterstic

features
Forest 1419.07 Forest farm ,
fringe
Agriculture 429.131 Urban fringe
Barren land 373.452 Degraded forest
Urban areas 543.233 Urbanisation
Water bodies 4.5599 Seasonal streams
TOTAL 2769.4459 -
 FINAL RESULTED MAP

CONCLUSION :
Conclusion

This study has demonstrated that the recent advancements in remote

sensing and GIS technologies provide powerful tool for mapping and
detecting changes in land use/land cover. This research carried out in a part
of Dehradun using these modern technologies in conjunction with field
observation showed both land cover conversion and modification. The general
trend observed by the present study is a decrease in forests and derived savanna
and a corresponding increase in shrub land/farmland complex and
settlement/bare surface. The implication is that the present tendency may lead to
more land degradation. Thus, this trend needs to be corrected. Land use/land
cover mapping and detection of changes shown here may not provide the
ultimate explanation for all problems related to land use/land cover changes
and cannot be an end in itself rather, it serves as a base to understand the
patterns and possible causes and consequences of land use/land cover changes
in the area. The ecological problem associated with the land use/land cover
changes discussed are linked with the socio economic change of the local
population as well as to a certain extent, with population growth. Settlement
expansion and illegal logging are also the major factors behind the land
use/land cover changes observed in the area. The findings of this study
highlight the need for a comprehensive assessment of human activities in
Dehradun and the adaptation of sustainable forest management practices
such as close supervision of forest reserves in the region and making
more arable lands available through restoration of already degraded and
impoverished lands.