ASSESSMENT OF MULTI-TEMPORAL LAND USE / COVER 
CHANGES USING REMOTELY SENSED IMAGERY, 
A CASE STUDY : TUZLA REGION IN ISTANBUL, TURKEY 
Filiz SUNAR, Cankut ORMECI, Sinasi KAYA, Nebiye MUSAOGLU 
|. T.U. Civil Engineering Faculty, Remote sensing Dept., Maslak 80626 Istanbul, TURKEY 
Commission VII, Working Group 9 
KEY WORDS : Remote Sensing, Land use, Landsat, Classification, Change Detection. 
ABSTRACT 
Natural environments are changed due to natural processes, disasters, human and other interventions. One of the 
major human interventions is the unplanned urbanization. The rapid growth of population and illegal settlements in 
urban centers and industrial areas have put enormous strains on urban services and amenities, which causes the 
overgrowing pressure on land resources. To meet the demand for current and accurate data, multi-temporal remotely 
sensed images are increasingly used as one of the data sources for land use change analysis. The objective of this 
study was to detect land-cover changes by using 3 Landsat TM imagery in the Tuzla region, Istanbul. with different 
change detection (i.e. image overlay, image differencing, principal component analysis) methods. Each change 
detection methods used was assessed with their ability to detect specific changes. 
1. Introduction 
The urbanization is now being accepted as the 
essential infrastructure for economic development of a 
region and in index of material progress and prosperity 
of society. The rapid growth of population and illegal 
settlements (i.e., slums) in urban centers and new 
industrial structures have put enormous strains on 
urban services and amenities, which causes the 
overgrowing pressure on land resources. One of the 
major tasks is the acquisition and analysis of latest 
information upon for the sufficient administration and 
planning. The conventional methods of urban data 
collection and analysis can not deliver necessary 
information in a timely and cost effective fashion 
(Michalak, 1993]. To meet the demand for current 
and accurate data, multi-temporal remotely sensed 
images are increasingly used as one of the data 
sources of land use change analysis. Data from the 
Landsat TM, with its synoptic and regular (16 day and 
year-to-year) coverage offer potential for detection and 
inventory of disturbances and other changes that occur 
in land use, cover type and cover condition in areas of 
interest [Ormeci et al, 1994]. 
In this study, land-cover changes and intense 
development pressure were analyzed by using the 
multi-temporal (12 June 1984, 1 September 1990 and 
6 September 1992) Landsat TM imagery in the Tuzla 
region, Istanbul with different change detection 
methods with their ability to detect specific changes. 
2. Study Area 
During the last two decades, the urban expansion in 
Istanbul, biggest city of Turkey, is mostly unplanned 
and arbitrary which has an encroached upon the 
agricultural land. In this study, the impacts of the 
urban growth and land use changes in Tuzla region, 
678 
located in the east coast line of Istanbul, was 
evaluated. At the beginning this region has developed 
as an small village having flat, productive agricultural 
lands and had a summer residential area characteristic 
due to its natural beauties, than it showed rapid 
developments because of the new transportation axes 
and regional investments. This caused rapid 
population growth due to migration from the rural 
areas, and creation of new job facilities and services. 
The other reason for the rapid growth of the 
urbanization and land developments in the region was 
the establishment of new dockyard in 1985. Today, 
this area and the Lake Kamil Abdus, which is accepted 
as an natural and archeological site and protection 
area, are threaten by this unplanned expansion and 
developments (Figure 1). 
2.1. Materials and technique of analysis 
To evaluate the population growth and unplanned 
urbanization temporally, 12 June 1984, 1 September 
1990, and 6 September 1992 dated 3 LANDSAT TM 
satellite data (4 bands of each data set) of the study 
area were used in addition to an earlier mosaic of 
aerial photographs and field check. The key 
characteristics of the data used are given in Table 1. 
Table 1 . The key characteristics 
of the data used. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
Parameter : LANDSAT TM - 
Date 12.08.1984 
1.09.1990 
6.09.1992 
No. Bands 7 
Wavelength Region 450-12500 nm 
Pixel Size 30m 
Thermal Band:120 m 
  
  
  
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B7. Vienna 1996