Consistent, accurate, high resolution, long time-series mapping of built-up land in the North China Plain
2021
Authors
Jinzhu Wang, Michalis Hadjikakou & Brett A. Bryan
Abstract
Accurate, long time-series, high-resolution mapping of built-up land dynamics is essential for understanding urbanization and its environmental impacts. Despite advances in remote sensing and classification algorithms, built-up land mapping which only uses spectral data and derived indices remains prone to uncertainty. We mapped the extent of built-up land in the North China Plain, one of China’s most important agricultural regions, from 1990 to 2019 at three-yearly intervals and 30 m spatial resolution. We applied Discrete Fourier Transformation to dense time-stack Landsat data to create Fourier predictors to reduce mapping uncertainty. As a result, we improved the overall accuracy of built-up land mapping by 8% compared to using spectral data and derived indices. In addition, a temporal correction algorithm applied to remove misclassified pixels further improved mapping accuracy to a consistently high level (>94%) over the time periods. A cross-product comparison showed that our maps achieved the highest accuracies across all years. The built-up land area in the North China Plain increased from 37,941 km2 in 1990–1992 to 131,578 km2 in 2017–2019. Consistent, high-accuracy, long time-series built-up land mapping provides a reliable basis for formulating policy and planning in one of the most rapidly urbanizing regions on this planet.
Figure 8. Dynamic map of built-up areas from 1990 to 2019. Warm colors indicate earlier dates, and cool colors indicate later dates. Hexagonal insets show zoomed-in views of selected cities.
