Spatio-temporal analysis of land use and land cover changes in arid region of Saudi Arabia
© 2018, Int. J. of GEOMATE. Changes in land use/land cover (LU/LC) are a major factor driving global environmental change, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. As a result, expansion of agriculture and urbanization is occurring in ecologically fragile lands. This paper analyzed and assessed lan...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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The Geomate International Society
2018
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| Online Access: | http://www.geomatejournal.com/node/956 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/65691 |
| _version_ | 1848761183133237248 |
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| author | Albalawi, E. Dewan, Ashraf Corner, Robert |
| author_facet | Albalawi, E. Dewan, Ashraf Corner, Robert |
| author_sort | Albalawi, E. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | © 2018, Int. J. of GEOMATE. Changes in land use/land cover (LU/LC) are a major factor driving global environmental change, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. As a result, expansion of agriculture and urbanization is occurring in ecologically fragile lands. This paper analyzed and assessed land use/land cover changes in an agricultural center Tabuk in Saudi Arabia, object-based classification technique (OBC) using Landsat images for seven years (1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2009, and 2015) were used for LU/LC analysis. The urban growth type for Tabuk was measured using Urban Growth Analysis Tool (UGAT) within a GIS. The study found an increase in urban areas from 48 km 2 in 1985 to 315 km 2 in 2015. A significant increase of 61% in agricultural land, from 1985 (112 km 2 ) to (577 km 2 ) in 2015. This expansion is occurring at the expense of the barren land with a loss of 768 km 2 . An overall classification accuracy ranged from 94% to 97% across all images. The urban growth type for Tabuk was determined as 72% to be of the extension-type over the study period, with urban areas expanding in a direction towards the northwest and west area. Assessing spatial and temporal LU/LC change has aided to understand the impacts of expanding agriculture and urban areas. The LU/LC maps could aid government planners and decision-makers to analyze and manage agricultural and urban growth. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T10:27:37Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-65691 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T10:27:37Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | The Geomate International Society |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-656912019-07-08T06:22:41Z Spatio-temporal analysis of land use and land cover changes in arid region of Saudi Arabia Albalawi, E. Dewan, Ashraf Corner, Robert © 2018, Int. J. of GEOMATE. Changes in land use/land cover (LU/LC) are a major factor driving global environmental change, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. As a result, expansion of agriculture and urbanization is occurring in ecologically fragile lands. This paper analyzed and assessed land use/land cover changes in an agricultural center Tabuk in Saudi Arabia, object-based classification technique (OBC) using Landsat images for seven years (1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2009, and 2015) were used for LU/LC analysis. The urban growth type for Tabuk was measured using Urban Growth Analysis Tool (UGAT) within a GIS. The study found an increase in urban areas from 48 km 2 in 1985 to 315 km 2 in 2015. A significant increase of 61% in agricultural land, from 1985 (112 km 2 ) to (577 km 2 ) in 2015. This expansion is occurring at the expense of the barren land with a loss of 768 km 2 . An overall classification accuracy ranged from 94% to 97% across all images. The urban growth type for Tabuk was determined as 72% to be of the extension-type over the study period, with urban areas expanding in a direction towards the northwest and west area. Assessing spatial and temporal LU/LC change has aided to understand the impacts of expanding agriculture and urban areas. The LU/LC maps could aid government planners and decision-makers to analyze and manage agricultural and urban growth. 2018 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/65691 10.21660/2018.44.3708 http://www.geomatejournal.com/node/956 The Geomate International Society unknown |
| spellingShingle | Albalawi, E. Dewan, Ashraf Corner, Robert Spatio-temporal analysis of land use and land cover changes in arid region of Saudi Arabia |
| title | Spatio-temporal analysis of land use and land cover changes in arid region of Saudi Arabia |
| title_full | Spatio-temporal analysis of land use and land cover changes in arid region of Saudi Arabia |
| title_fullStr | Spatio-temporal analysis of land use and land cover changes in arid region of Saudi Arabia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Spatio-temporal analysis of land use and land cover changes in arid region of Saudi Arabia |
| title_short | Spatio-temporal analysis of land use and land cover changes in arid region of Saudi Arabia |
| title_sort | spatio-temporal analysis of land use and land cover changes in arid region of saudi arabia |
| url | http://www.geomatejournal.com/node/956 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/65691 |