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Mapping Urbanization Trends in a Forested Landscape Using Google Earth Engine

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Abstract

Land cover change is one of the most important issues facing the landscape of the Southeastern United States. Land use change impacts the natural environment, and it is critical to understand the location and rate of change in forests near rapidly urbanizing areas. The objectives of this study are to determine the classes and the distribution of land cover using classification of high-resolution satellite imagery for the upstate region of South Carolina and identify urbanization trends (conversion of forested areas to residential or industrial developments). Rapid urbanization has occurred in the Southeastern U.S. because of economic development and population growth. The challenge is to develop methodologies to quickly identify how the landscape is being altered as forested areas are developed. Remote sensing techniques using newly available high-resolution imagery have great potential for providing up-to-date spatial information about the land cover change. In this study, a framework has been developed to regularly monitor land cover change using a new geospatial technology platform: Google Earth Engine (GEE). The overall accuracy assessments of the 3 years were 91.21% (2013), 90.46% (2015), and 91.01% (2017), respectively. Based on the classification results, urbanization activities have resulted in a gradual change of land cover classes. The predominant land cover alteration at each time interval was changes from forested areas to the new development lands, bare lands, and non-forested areas.

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Funding

Financial support for this project was provided by Libyan Government (Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research) on behalf of the University of Tripoli and Clemson University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, 29634, USA

    Hamdi A. Zurqani, Christopher J. Post & Elena A. Mikhailova

  2. Department of Soil and Water Sciences, University of Tripoli, Tripoli, 13538, Libya

    Hamdi A. Zurqani

  3. South Carolina Water Resources Center, Clemson University, Pendleton, SC, 29670, USA

    Jeffrey S. Allen

Authors
  1. Hamdi A. Zurqani
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  2. Christopher J. Post
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  3. Elena A. Mikhailova
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  4. Jeffrey S. Allen
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Correspondence to Hamdi A. Zurqani.

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Zurqani, H.A., Post, C.J., Mikhailova, E.A. et al. Mapping Urbanization Trends in a Forested Landscape Using Google Earth Engine. Remote Sens Earth Syst Sci 2, 173–182 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41976-019-00020-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41976-019-00020-y

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