Development of land use and main land use change processes in the period 1836–2006: case study in the Czech Republic

Abstract

Two different sets of maps, on a scale of 1:110,000, show the development of land use and main land use change processes in a 500 km2 study area that occurred over the last 170 years. Analytical maps of land use were derived from old topographical military maps, as well as from base maps, using five time periods by the process of on-screen digitization. These analytical maps formed a basis for synthetic maps of land use change processes, number of changes, stably used areas and land use change trajectories. Maps of land use change processes record the spatial distribution of main processes that occurred between two adjacent time steps. The overall dynamics of land use changes are depicted in the map of land use change trajectories. The map of the number of changes shows how many times land use was changed in the given plot, while the map of stably used areas gives an idea of which land use categories did not change during the researched period.