Digital Change Detection and Map Analysis for Urban Expansion and Land Cover Changes in Karbala City

Abstract

Urban growth driven by uncontrolled expansion is one of the greatest problems that reduces the fertile lands in Karbala Governorate, Iraq. This phenomenon is the cause for variety of urban environmental problems such as an increase in local temperature, cost of land, and loss of agricultural produce. Multiple images of different time periods were used, passing them through a series of image processing steps according to the methodology of work to achieve the aims of the paper by calculating land cover changes for Karbala City from 1992 to 2013. The aim of this research is to take the temporal and subtle changes in urbanization and land cover primarily to take into account a superior perception of the connection and activities between urban growth and urban environmental problems. To take action and greater control of land surface features, the data from Landsat 4 (MSS) 1992, Landsat 7 Thematic Mapper (ETM) 2003, and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) 2013 were used to deliver the research's aim.