REMOTE SENSING, GIS, AND LAND USE AND LAND COVER MAPPING ALONG THE I-10 CORRIDOR

The National Consortium on Remote Sensing in Transportation - environmental assessment conducts research into the nature of land cover change as it relates to transportation features. For an environmentally sensitive area on the Mississippi Gulf Coast ongoing research studies the changes in land cover for the area with particular emphasis on changes that have occurred related to the completion of Interstate 10. Analyses of population and demographic information, existing land cover data, and non-spectral retrospective research illustrate that the area has changed dramatically in the past 39 years as evidenced by a population increase of around 50%. These preliminary studies have detected the growth and change, but the lack of spectral analysis precludes the identification of spatial patterns of growth and change for the area. In this study, three specific bands were used with reasonable success to correlate soil, wetness, and vegetation. Tasseled cap results and changes in values with the time were used to assess changes in environment. The changes were compared and contrasted to charges in Normalized Difference Vegetation Indices and results were used to assist on dividing areas on the landscape prior to classification. Combinations of supervised and unsupervised classifications were conducted to define land cover and land use types for the area. The resulting products of the exploratory analyses and classification were then used to assess spatial patterns of land cover and land use change for the area.