Regional Monitoring of Natural Environment 2003, No 4, 75-78
CHANGES IN THE LAND USE WITHIN THE GRODARZ STREAM DRAINAGE BASIN WITH UTILIZATION OF AERIAL ORTOPHOTOMAPS
AND GIS METHODS IN MONITORING
Eugeniusz Nowocień, Bogusław Podolski, Rafał Wawer
Summary
The work presents research results on the changes in land use structure in two time periods: 1973-1983 and 1983-1996. Digitalization of three orthophoto maps form 1973, 1983 and 1996 revealed land use maps in vector format. Although orthophotos form 1973 and 1983 have 8-bit color depth, it was possible to distinguish only some land use types (visible patterns), divides into two groups: forests and afforestations as well as orchards and raw crops. Changes in the areas of those land use groups were calculated and spatially localized through overlay operations in GIS system. The results are shown in form of maps and table. Analyses revealed high efficiency of GIS methodology in landscape investigations, allowing to distinguish visible trends in land use structure changes over time. Aerial orthophotos seem to be a very good source for land use monitoring in absence of multispectral satellite imaginery.
