RELATION BETWEEN SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS IN COLOMBO, SRI LANKA
AND THE URBAN INDEX ESTIMATED BY SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING DATA
Makoto Kawamura, Associate Professor, Toyohashi University of Technology, Japan.
Sanath Jayamanna, Graduate Student, Toyohashi University of Technology, Japan.
Yuji Tsujiko, Research Associate, Fukui National College of Technology, Japan.
Commission VII, Working Group 9.
KEY WORDS: Remote_Sensing, Urban Information, Correlation, Monitoring, Landsat.
nt of
ABSTRACT:
In most developing nations authentic and continually updated information concerning the rapidly expanding
urban areas does not exist. Therefore the planning of urban infrastructure for the needs of effective development
has become difficult, because there is no adequate understanding of the existing urban system. This study shows
how digital data from satellite images could replace costly and time consuming traditional data collection efforts
and provide a relatively inexpensive and fast method of updating urban information and assessing conditions in
urban areas. For this purpose the authors propose the Urban Index UI, using Landsat TM bands 7 and 4. As a
case study the Colombo Metropolitan Region in Sri Lanka is selected and it is shown how Ul is strongly related to
socio-economic and environmental data of this region.
1. INTRODUCTION
The rapidly receding boundaries of population
agglomerations 1n many regions of the world has given
rise to many environmental problems demanding urgent
attention. Each week over 1 million. new urban
inhabitants are added to the world. With this increase in
urban population comes the need for building new urban
infrastructure, providing more environmental and social
services and creating new jobs. However in most
developing nations the lack of sufficient continually
updated spatial data has made the planning process
difficult or if not practically impossible because of the
inadequate understanding of the existing urban system.
The high cost and time required for traditional data
collection methods have made a svstematically developed
urban data base beyond the reach of many planning
authorities. However, recent developments in the field of
remote sensing technology in addition to the advancement
Ih micro computers its related hardware and software
components have made this technology more affordable
and accessible to urban planners and engineers and is
helping to overcome these problems effectively.
In this study Landsat TM data has been related with
ground collected socio-economic and environmental
Information so that digital data from Landsat images
could be used to update information and assess the
Conditions in urban areas. For this purpose the authors
oy the Urban Index UI , using Landsat TM bands 7
and 4.
Tae Pr ay
Uri
:
;
pw s
cortan d
\ -3 8 A
; =
bw A ett 7 LIC m
mere LL] OE |
Figure 1. Location of Colombo City
As a case study, the Colombo Metropolitan Region in Sri
Lanka has been selected. Colombo City is the commercial
and industrial center of Sri Lanka. The location of the city
is shown in Fig:l. Out of a total population of 17.7
million people living on the Island of Sri Lanka an
estimated 2 million people live in the Colombo Urban
Area which extends over 58 Sq.km. The population in the
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International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B7. Vienna 1996
