Directional Analysis of Urban Expansion Based on Sub-pixel and Regional Scale: A Case Study of Main Districts in Guangzhou, China

Abstract

Multi-scale data have had a wide-ranging level of performance in the area of urban change monitoring. Herein we investigate the correlation between the impervious surface fraction (ISF) and the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program/Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) nighttime stable light (NTL) data with respect to the urban expansion in the main districts of Guangzhou. Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper and Landsat 8 Operational Land Image (OLI) data from 1988 to 2015 were used to extract the ISF using the linear spectral mixture analysis model and normal difference build-up index at the sub-pixel scale. DMSP/OLS NTL data from 1992 to 2013 were calibrated to illustrate the urban nighttime light conditions at the regional scale. Urban expansion directions were identified by statistics and kernel density analysis for the ISF study area at the sub-pixel scale. In addition, the correlation between the ISF and DMSP/OLS NTL data were illustrated by linear regression analysis. Furthermore, Profile Graph in ArcGIS was employed to illustrate the urban expansion from the differences in correlation in different directions. The conclusions are as follows: 1) The impervious surface (IS) in the study area has expanded to the northeast and the east, starting with the old urban zones, and the high-density IS area has increased by 321.14 km2. 2) The linear regression analysis reveals a positive correlation between the ISF and the DMSP/OLS NTL data. The multi-scale data changes are consistent with the actual urban planning of Guangzhou. 3) The DMSP/OLS NTL data overestimate the urban extent because of its saturation and blooming effects, causing its correlation with ISF to decrease. The pattern of urban expansion influences the saturation and blooming effects of the DMSP/OLS NTL data.