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asseled
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32 GIS OVERLAY
The GIS overlay approach involves addition of
NDVI and the socio-economic layers together in the
development of the quality of life (QOL) indicator.
The values in each data layer were equally divided
into 10 classes and a rank of "life quality” was
computed for each block group. There were 10
ranks (10 being the highest rank score). In the case
of "surface temperatures”, "per cent urban", and
"population density”, the higher the value, the less
desirable for the QOL, and hence high values were
assigned low ranks. On the other hand, for "NDVI",
"per capita income", "median home value", and
"per cent college graduates", the higher the value,
the more desirable for QOL, and hence high values
were assigned high ranks. These seven layers of
ranked data of "life quality" were added one on top
of another by the GIS overlay method. The
composite score ranged from 18 to 61. The roughly
upper twenty per cent of QOL scores were found in
those block groups along Clarke County's
southern, western, and eastern borders, while low
QOL scores were found in block groups located in
the center of the county, very close to the
downtown area of Athens. The spatial pattern
mapped by the GIS overlay approach is very similar
to that produced by the first principal component
scores. Therefore, the two approaches to the
integration of Landsat TM data with the census
data for QOL assessment are equally valid.
4. CONCLUSION
This research has demonstrated that a strong
relationship exists between data relating to the
biophysical environment and those relating to the
socio-economic environment. The vegetation index
in the form of NDVI, apparent surface
temperatures, and urban land use can be extracted
from the Landsat TM data. NDVI, which shows
Strong negative correlation with apparent surface
temperatures and per cent of urban use, is a
particularly useful measure of greenness in the
biophysical environment. As such, it is a good
Integrator of the two and is a good measure of the
quality of life by itself. Principal components
analysis of the biophysical and socio-economic
data revealed two Tasseled Cap data planes of
Greenness" and "Economic Well Being", depicting
Possible transition between the two planes. The
Integration approaches reported in this paper
Provides an environmental perspective in the
assessment of quality of life and can be easily
achieved with the GIS technology. In the absence
of up-to-date census data, high-resolution satellite
Mages data can be employed to assess the
condition of socio-economic development in a
433
region.
5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author is very grateful to EOSAT for the
research grant awarded to him, making the
research reported in this paper possible.
6. REFERENCES
Andrew, J.R., 1986. Research on the Quality of Life.
Survey Research Center, Ann Arbor, MI.
Chombart de Lauwe, P.H., 1952. Paris et
l'agglomeration parisienne; L'espace social dans
une grande cite.
Crist, E.P. and Cicone, R.C., 1984. Application of
the Tasseled Cap concept to simulated Thematic
Mapper data. Photogrammetric Engineering and
Remote Sensing, 50, pp.343-352. De Haas, W.G.L.,
1966. Integrated Surveys and the Social Sciences.
Publications of the ITC-UNESCO Centre for
Integrated Surveys, Delft, The Netherlands.
Hodler, T., Lawson, N., Schretter, H. and Torguson,
J., 1994. The Interactive Atlas of Georgia. Institute
of Community and Area Development, Athens,
Georgia, U.S.A.
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B7. Vienna 1996
