Land use cover change analysis (1985-2020) of Ayvalık district Balikesır Turkey using geographic information systems and remote sensing

Abstract

Changes in use of the urban and rural areas are increasing each passing day based on the rapid population growth and urbanization along with the developments in industry and technology. Direction and rate of this change can be detected through the calculation of the changes by the virtue of developments in technology and science. In this study, it is aimed to detect the changes which have occurred in usage of the areas between the years 1985 and 2020 in Ayvalik district, Turkey with the aid of remote sensing and geographical information systems. The land use changes calculated as the results of the study indicated that 668.6 % of the increase took place in the highway transportation network of the district, 420.7 % of which in tourism and entertainment areas, 152 % of which in the residential areas covering both the district center and villages, 133.8 % of which in the industrial areas and 32.2 % of which in the ports areas in a period of 35 years. The land use change results also showed that there has been a decrease of 19.3% in the total amount of forests that covered the landscape. Regarding the examination of the land use change on the agricultural basis, it was found out that the irrigated agricultural areas have increased by 33.4 % whereas the dry agricultural areas and the cultivated agricultural areas have decreased by %38.1 and 20.1 %, respectively.