Land use change analysis of Beykoz-Istanbul by means of satellite images and GIS

Management and planning of the natural environment requires spatially accurate and timely information on land use patterns. With repetitive satellite coverage, the rapid evolution of computer technology and the integration of satellite and spatial data, the development of land use applications have become ubiquitous. The integration of Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has been widely applied and recognized as a powerful and effective tool in detecting land use change in urban areas. This paper presents the land use change analysis of the Beykoz region, which is the second largest administrative district of Istanbul. Land use changes and their impacts are monitored using Landsat (MSS – TM) and Spot 5 satellite data in the period of 1975–2001. The independent classification of each satellite image was used as a change analysis method and the resulting images were analyzed with GIS techniques. The results showed that forest area of Beykoz decreased from 80.55% to 70.5% between 1975 and 1984 and during the 1984–2001 periods, the forested area decreased from 70.5% to 68.86% and the urban growth rate was 4.65%.