ul 2004
mirates (UAE); the seven united Emirates are named.
E
Figure 1. Location of the United Arab
cs —
Was ——— mnn
International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Vol XXXV, Part B2. Istanbul 2004
million palm trees, vegetables, crops and fruits; e.g. Liwa farms
(figure 1).
The paved highways exceeded 4000 km, with first class and
fully lightened and serviced highways linking the major cities.
Major recreation and housing projects such the expansion of
Abu Dhabi Korniche (2003-2005) and the Palm Project of
Dubai are going on. Jabal Ali Free Zone has more than 2300
companies registered (UAE Year Book 2003) UAE is
classified as one of the best in information & technology
applications; ranked as top among Arab countries and 21”
worldwide with more than 25% of the population subscribed to
Internet services (Alsuweidi, 2004). In education, number of
schools jumped from 20 with 4000 students in year 1962 to747
with 556,500 students in year 2001/02, with a budget of $ US
1.4 Billions for 2001/02. Schools changed from huts with
students setting on the sand in the 1950’s (Ronald Codari,
1990) to first class modern ones. UAE women are sharing in
the workforce by 41% in education sector and 34 % in heath
sector. The electrical energy generated exceeded 8000 MWhr
and water generation is around one billion gallons/day. The
country has 6-international airports (e.g. Dubai; figure 2).
On international level UAE is becoming a regional and global
trade & tourism hub and a center for important exhibitions such
as International Defense (IDEX), IT (GITEX) & Dubai Air
Show. UAE give $ US 10’s millions of aid yearly to poor
countries and has funded many projects in over 50 developing
countries worth of $ US 6.2 billions. H. H. Sheikh Mohammad
Bin Zayed Al Nahyan initiated the UGS project and it was
operational in year 2000, with the help of Space Imaging, the
leading world company in high resolution imaging satellites
business.
3. METHODOLOGY & INPUT DATA
The main aim of the study is to emphasize the rapid
development, which has been achieved in UAE during the past
three decades with the use of images. The study involves first
collection of imagery data and reports & documents. Internet
surfacing of UAE government sites was useful. Five Landsat
images covering the major cities of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and
Alain dated 1973, 1984, 1990 & 1995 were collected and
IKONOS images collected in 2003 by UAE, UGS were used.
The built-up parts of both Abu Dhabi & Dubai were vectorized
from images and areas were determined. In addition,
municipality maps were rectified, classified and used for
correlation purposes. ERDAS Imagine software was utilized for
image processing, enhancement, vectorization & classification.
A number of images and maps were scanned using a large
format scanner.
4. DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
The study involved acquisition of historical Landsat MSS
(1973) and TM images (1984, 1990 & 1995) and compilation
of references on UAE development. Landsat MSS & TM bands
4, 3 & 2 false color composite (figures 2 & 3) and composite
of TM bands 7, 4 &2 (figure 1) parallel with recently acquired
IKONOS images were used for vectorization of built up areas
in Abu Dhabi & Dubai cities.
Generally speaking Abu Dhabi city is calm, well organized and
most recent development is devoted to outside the island in the
E, SE and NE directions, because the island is almost fully
developed. The Lulu island an some more small islands have
been recently established. just west of Abu Dhabi island, on
which remarkable recreational and residential/commercial
projects will be developed. Dubai city has largely expanded,
particularly along the SW coast and to the east, with more
emphasis on tourism/recreational and industry.
Using an old aerial photograph of Abu Dhabi dated 1951
(figure 2), the built-up area which was simple and scattered
huts, tents and some houses is estimated to be around one Sq.
Km. In 1973, the built-up area (figure 3, table 1) was about 15
Sq. Km and in Il years time it was doubled about 5 times
rising up to 82.9 Sq. Km. In 1984. However, the 1973 Landsat
MSS image provide a rough estimation and many vacant areas
must have been included. In the years 1984-1995 a sort of
steady expansion was there, with an average expansion of 10
Sq. Km / year; ~ 8-12%. Landsat TM images permitted better
estimate of urban expansion than MSS, but still some
exaggeration might be there.
Year / image type Abu Dhabi Dubai
area Sq. Km | area Sq. Km
1951 Air photo 0.9 N A
1973 Landsat MSS | 15 (6 /yr) 13 NA
1984 Landsat TM
1990 Landsat TM
1995 Landsat TM
2003 IKONOS
82 (6.2 /yr) 82 (6.5 /yr)
128 (7.6 /yr) /
160 (6.4 /yr)
262(12.75/ yr)
128 (3.2 /yr)
238 (13.75/yr)
Table 1. UAE cities expansion estimates from images
IKONOS images of Abu Dhabi and Dubai collected by UAE
UGS in late 2003 were enhanced and built-up areas were
accurately vectorized (figure 3). The area of Abu Dhabi city
and associated surrounding towns such as Alshahamah,
Musaffah, Almafraq & Baniyas considerably expanded in the
past 8 years from 160 to above 260 Sq. Km. Still some parts of
these towns are not included because they fall outside the
sample area selected (figure 3). These towns are fairly recent
and undergoing rapid expansion especially in the past two
years.
Dubai city on the other hand has developed rapidly and the
built-up area (only in the sample area; figure 3 ) jumped from
-13 Sq. Km. In 1973 to 82 Sq. Km. in 1984, 128 Sq. Km. in
1995 and reaches 238 Sq. Km. in 2003(table 1). However, two
large areas are not included, the Emirates road and Jabal Al,
parts which has undergone a severe expansion, particularly in
the last three years. We should also keep in mind the vertical
growth in the city center, Sheikh Zayed Street and Aljumeirah
areas.
The Musaffah industrial area has doubled four times; from 11
Sq. km in 1984 to 16 Sq. Km in 1990 and from 18 Sq. Km. in
1995 jumped to 40 Sq. Km in 2003. It is very obvious from
Landsat TM bands 7,4,&2 image that a real revolution in
agriculture is there, particularly in the middle of the desert,
namely in Liwa, Alain and SE of Ras Alkheimah (figure 1).
Scanning, rectification and classification of city expansion
maps (UAE National Atlas, 1993), enabled us to make absolute
areas of city expansion samples from Abu Dhabi & Dubai. Abu
Dhabi built-up area was 11.2 Sq. Km in 1969, 15.5 Sq. Km in
1974 increased to 34.9 Sq. Km in 1980 and 42.9 Sq. km in
1990.
This implies rapid growth in the late 1970's after the jump in
oil prices and slow growth in the 1980's. Similarly in Dubai the
city area was doubled from 25.3 Sq. Km in 1976 to 58.2 Sq.
Km in 1980 and in 1988 it reaches 67 Sq. Km.
