Detection and Mapping of Land Use and Land Cover Classes of a Developing City in Southeastern Region of Nigeria, using Multi-band Digital Remotely-sensed Data

Abstract

Land use and land cover dynamics has been commonplace around Owerri and environs. Landsat TM 86 and ETM+ 2000 were used to detect and map these changes. The imageries were mapped at the scales of 1:250,000 and 1:150,000 using ILWIS Academic 3.0 GIS software. The result showed significant shift in the aggregate land use and land cover class due to natural
and anthropogenic forcing agents. Forest vegetation class had the largest coverage on the land use and land cover maps of 1986 and 2000. The bare/eroded surfaces class gave the highest PAVM value of 65.7% followed
by water body of 44.9%. This implies that the LU and LC underwent massive  transformation and change in the period of study. These types of LU and LC
and the spate of dynamics must be considered in the preparation of development plans for cities in the region.