Study on Spatial Pattern of Rural Settlements in Wuling Mountainous Area Based on GIS

Abstract

Rural settlement is a living space of various people in rural area and it is the carrier of rural population spatial distribution. Taking Pengshui County of Wuling Mountainous Area in China as an empirical research object, the spatial pattern of rural settlement in Pengshui County was studied by using GIS spatial analysis method, including spatial clustering features, topographic spatial differentiation features, along the river system and along the road spatial differentiation characteristics. The results show that firstly, the distribution of rural settlements in Pengshui County is relatively scattered, and it is still in the early stage of aggregation. And secondly, for 92.81% of the rural settlements, the distance between rural settlements is < 100 m in Pengshui County, showing that rural settlements in the local space are relatively concentrated. Thirdly, the distribution of rural settlements in Pengshui County is largely affected by topography. There are significant differences in the number and area of the settlement patches on different elevation and slope. The patch plots are normal distribution with elevation and slope, showing a obvious spatial agglomeration. Fourthly, in Pengshui County, rural settlements have a obvious trend to distribute along the road and river. With the increase of distance from the water system and water, the number of settlements decreased rapidly, showing an exponentially decreases. And comparing with settlement along road, settlement along river has a faster descending speed.