2008
15
LAND COVER CHANGE IN THREE SELECTED AREAS UNDER DIRECT INFLUENCE
OF THE “EGNATIA” HIGHWAY, IN GREECE.
A. Stamou \ Ch. Georgiadis b , P. Patias c
a PhD Candidate, Dept. Cadastre, Photogrammetry and Cartography, AUTH, Greece-astamoy@topo.auth.gr
b PhD, Dept. Cadastre, Photogrammetry and Cartography, AUTH, Greece-harris@photo.topo.auth.gr
c Professor, Dept. Cadastre, Photogrammetry and Cartography, AUTH, Greece-patias@auth.gr
Youth Forum
KEY WORDS: Satellite Remote Sensing, Land Use, Digital Photogrammetry, Change Detection, Thematic Mapping
ABSTRACT:
The Egnatia highway, a modem closed motorway 670 kilometres long, is one of the largest road construction projects in Europe,
running across Northern Greece. In order to record and analyze the spatial and environmental effects that inevitably the Egnatia
highway has caused to its surroundings, the need for effective and efficient integration of land cover dynamic information is
becoming more and more essential. Facing this need, this project aims at the analysis of multi-temporal spacebome images for the
detection of land cover changes in selected areas under direct influence of the Egnatia highway. This is accomplished with the
estimation of two specific impact indicators, in order to assess the interaction between the Egnatia road axis and the developmental
procedure and physical planning in its impact area. The first indicator monitors the pressure for land use changes that have occurred
over the decade 1998-2007, and the second monitors the changes in residential areas for the same period of time. The data used are
for the base year 1998: three multispectral orthoimages SPOT, with spatial analysis 20 m, and for the check year 2007: three
synthetic images IKONOS, with spatial analysis 1 m. The images mentioned above depict the region of three junctions of “Egnatia”
highway. With the intention to estimate the indicators mentioned above, a change detection method is applied and thematic maps are
produced, portraying land use variations for the areas of interest.
1. INTRODUCTION
In Roman Times, one of the most important roads leading to the
capital Rome was the Via Egnatia, an overseas extension of the
Via Traiana. The Via Egnatia was built between 146 and 120
B.C., initially following the traces of an older, pre-Roman road
running from the Adriatic to the Aegean Sea. The Romans
initially used the road for military purposes, but as it became
more widely used it rapidly developed into the main road from
the Adriatic to the Black Sea, competing with the traditional sea
route from Italy across the Isthmus to the North Aegean and
into the Black Sea. (www.egnatiaodos.gr)
Nowadays, Egnatia highway continues its fundamental role in
Greece and broadly in the Mediterranean as well as in Balkans,
because, when the construction will be finished, it will be a
collector route for the Balkan and South-eastern European
transport system. Pan-European Corridors IV (Berlin - Sofia -
Thessaloniki), IX (Helsinki - Alexandroupolis) and X (Vienna -
Belgrade - Thessaloniki) all end at the Egnatia highway.
Figure 1. The Egnatia highway (red color) and its vertical axes
(yellow color), in Greece
The importance of the construction project, as well as the large
scale of the investment, large part of which emanates from the
European Union, leads to additional actions, in order to provide
updated and reliable information about the highway’s spatial
impact and the situation of the areas influenced by the
construction and operation of the road and its vertical axes.
In this project this is achieved through the estimation of two
indicators concerning aspects of the project impact, such as the
spatial planning pressures and changes in land uses. More
specifically, the first indicator monitors the pressure for land
use changes that have occurred over the decade 1998-2007.
This has to do with the changes from rural to non-rural land use
as a result of pressures expected at specific areas along the
motorway, estimating: (a) the rate of change of agricultural land
(cultivated areas) into urban land, (b) the change of natural
areas into urban land, and (c) the change of natural areas into
agricultural land.
The second indicator has to do with the changes in residential
areas for the same period of time. Here is estimated the rate of
change of the urban’s land density, based on three categories:
continuous, linear and discontinuous urban land.
2. DATA
The satellite data used are three multispectral orthoimages from
SPOT, with spatial analysis 20 m and three synthetic images
IKONOS, with spatial analysis 1 m. The images mentioned
above depict the area of three junctions of “Egnatia” highway,
in Thessaloniki, in Komotini and in Ioannina. Three
corresponding DTMs (Digital Terrain Models) with grid size of
