Analysis of land cover changes using the Change Detection Toolbox: a case study of suburbanisation in the Senec district, Slovakia

Land cover changes are currently being monitored very closely as they affect climate change, habitat disappearance and other related phenomena. One of the socio-economic processes manifested by significant land cover changes is suburbanisation. In terms of the land cover, suburbanisation is reflected in an increase of built-up areas in the hinterland of cities. In Slovakia, the process of suburbanisation is most pronounced in the hinterland of the capital Bratislava, with the most dynamic expansion of built-up areas in the district of Senec. We evaluated the land cover changes in the Senec district from 2000 to 2018 on the base of Urban Atlas data layers and satellite images. For these purposes, we designed a conversion table based on the Urban Atlas 2006 legend, which identifies nine types of changes within the urbanisation process. The conversion table allows effective visualization of landscape changes to assess their spatial distribution. Since the detection and evaluation of changes from multiple time horizons requires the repetition of several steps, we developed the Change Detection Toolbox (CDT) to automate this process. The toolbox consists of four tools that enable change detection, classification of change types, determination of hierarchical level of change and statistical evaluation of changes. Similar tools have not yet been available for the vector-based change detection. The toolbox was created using Python scripting language and it works in ArcGIS Desktop, the most widely used proprietary GIS software. The results produced by the CDT toolbox showed that in the years 2000-2018, almost 2000 ha of agricultural land were lost in favour of residential construction (especially in the municipality of Chorvátsky Grob), construction of logistics parks and the Bratislava motorway bypass. However, in the last evaluated period 2012-2018, there was a slight slowdown in the intensity of residential construction, which may be related to persistent problems with transport to and from the capital during the morning and afternoon peak hours.  

URL: https://www.gcass.science.upjs.sk/