In this study, integrated remote sensing and GIS techniques have been used for mapping and analysis the spatiotemporal change in land cover in Diyala Governorate/ Iraq. Landsat-8 OLI satellite images for the years March-2014 and March-2017 have been used with 30 m resolution. Three spectral indicators were applied in order to map the land cover, which is normalized difference vegetation index, normalized difference water index and normalized difference built-up index. Then, four classes were mapping, which is, water body, bare soil, vegetation and built-up areas based on Landsat-8 data. The results show that bare soil and the built-up area was increased by 14.5% (2697 km2) and 2 % (386 km2), vegetation and water body were decreased by 17.6 % (3297 km2) and 0.1 % (18 km2) respectively during the study period. The study highlights the significance of the change detection techniques for mapping the land cover change in Diyala Governorate.
Volume 10 | 06 - Special Issue
Pages: 1955-1961