URBAN AREA EXTRACTION AND LAND USE LAND COVER MONITORING OF CHARSADDA DISTRICT, PAKISTAN

Abstract

The research of land use and land cover (LULC) changes aids in the management of environmental sustainability. The study investigates fluctuations in urban development, LULC, and the advancement of an environmentally sound area of Charsadda in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The method of classification algorithm of maximum likelihood for Landsat 7 and 8 obtained from 2007 to 2019 has been evaluated and carried out for a period of 12 years using a geographic information system and remote sensing data. For the extraction of the urban area and calculating changes in the composite of classed images, the raster Boolean approach has been utilized. To reduce negligible noise objects, post-classification filtering methods have been used. According to the classification findings from 2007 to 2013, the built-up area increased by 13.76 percent. Barren land has seen a 10.12% decline and vegetation has had a 3.73 percent gain, while aquatic bodies have seen a 0.08 percent increase. During the six-year period between 2013 and 2019, the built-up area increased by 11.52 percent, although vegetation (2.49 percent) and bare land decreased rapidly (8.90 percent). Water bodies also decreased by 0.12% at this time. The study’s findings suggest that the most significant changes have been found in built-up land, which increased by 25.29 percent overall between 2007 and 2019, despite a significant reduction in the vegetation zone and bare land. For the years 2007, 2013, and 2019, the total accuracy of land use and land cover classification has been 0.78 percent, 0.79 percent, and 0.76 percent, respectively. The study’s findings reveal a number of important changes in land-use and land-cover patterns in the studied area, which can be used to make recommendations and serve as a foundation for urban planning.