Study On The Land Use/Land Cover Change In Urumqi City Based On RS And GIS Technology

With the development of social economy, the issues of population, natural resources and environment become more and more serious, and the land use and land cover change (LUCC) have been payed more and more attention by human. How to use land reasonably is very important for the sustainable development of Urumqi city which is the capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and also the political, economic and cultural centre of Xinjiang. Taking Urumqi city as an example, this paper made a systematic study on the dynamic change of LUCC in this area and based on the remote sensing and geographical information system technologies. Forecast for the land use in the future has been simulated by the Markov model, and also the driving forces affecting land use change in Urumqi have been analyzed qualitatively. The main results are as follows:Firstly, the remote sensing image interpretation of signs for six land use types (cultivated land, grassland, construction land, woodland, water area, unused land) has been established according to the features of land use in Urumqi, which is the base of this study and can also provide useful references for the research on LUCC of other area in Xinjiang.Secondly, the land use maps of Urumqi city in three different years (1990, 2000, 2005) have been drawn by using decision tree classification method to classify remote sensing images, and the kappa coefficients are all higher than 0.8, which lays a good foundation for the next land use change detection.Thirdly, Some mathematic models, such as land use dynamic degree model, land use degree model and land use type transferring matrix model, are used to understand the characteristics of all kinds of land and the relationships of the interactive transfering, the results show that the demands for land in Urumqi city are in quick developing periods.Fourthly, the forcast results of dynamic change of LUCC in Urumqi city simulated by Markov model show that the area of grassland and unused land will reduce gradually, the areas of construction land, forest land and water will increase steadly, and the area of cultivated land will not change obviously.Finally, LUCC in Urumqi city is impacted not only by natural factors but also by social factors. From the view of nature, landform, climate and hydrological conditions are the major driving forces, and while in social, population, economic development and technical level are the major driving forces.