Analysis of urban growth using Landsat TM/ETM data and GIS—a case study of Hyderabad, India

Hyderabad is one of the fastest growing mega cities in India and it is facing many economic, social and environmental problems due to rapid urban growth. For the better planning of resources and to provide basic amenities to its residents, it is necessary to have sufficient knowledge about its urban growth activities. Also, it is necessary to monitor the changes in land use over time and to detect growth activities in different parts of the city. To accomplish these tasks with greater accuracy and easiest way, remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) tools proved to be very advantageous. This study makes an attempt towards the mapping of land use classes for different time periods and analysis of apparent changes in land use using the Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM) data for the urban agglomeration of Hyderabad, India. In this study, three different time periods viz. 1989–2000, 2000–2005 and 2005–2011 are chosen for the analysis. The results have shown that high-density urban area had grown during 1989–2011 by encroaching into other land use classes. The urban growth has also affected water resources both, qualitatively and quantitatively in the region. The transformation of other land use types into urban area dynamically continued in the North-East and Southern parts of the city. In the North-East direction, the urban growth was mostly due to growth in industrial and residential area and in Southern part, mostly due to residential growth.