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STUDY OF FOREST-COVER OVER CHITTAGONG USING 
SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING DATA AND GIS 
D.A.Quadir 
Bangladesh Space Research and 
Remote Sensing Organization - SPARSO 
Research Wing 
Mohakash Biggyan Bhavan, Agargaon, 
Sher-e-Bangla Nagar 
Dhaka 1207, Bangladesh 
ISPRS Commission VII / Working Group 8 
ABSTRACT 
The remote sensing technique and Geographic Information System have been used to study and monitor the 
forest resources of the Chittagong Forest Division. The digital data from Landsat TM of 5 March 1990 and 
17 October 1991 and Landsat MSS of 25 February 1984 have been used for this study. The results obtained 
through digital image processing have later been transferred to ARC/INFO GIS. The results of the earlier 
study based on the hard-copy product of Landsat imagery for the same years and the ground data collected 
have been used as a base material for selecting the classification training areas and interpretation of the 
results. Because of the lower spatial and spectral resolution of the MSS data, only three types of forest 
classes could be identified. These are dense forest, sparse forest and coastal mangrove forest. The multidate 
data of TM provided more accurate and detailed classifications of the forest and other vegetations like rubber 
plantations and tea-gardens. High quality cartographic products were prepared and statistical analysis of the 
class-areas were obtained individually for the years 1984 and 1991 using GIS and comparative analysis of 
the results have been made. 
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