An integrated approach of Remote Sensing and GIS for land use/cover change detection: A case study of Bhimtal tourist town (India)

The present study illustrates an integrated approach of remote sensing and GIS, i.e., Geospatial techniques for assessment of land use/cover dynamics of a tourist town located in the Lesser Himalayan range of the Uttarakhand State viz., the Bhimtal Town. Landsat satellite imageries of two different time periods, i.e., Landsat TM of 1990 and Landsat TM 2010 were acquired by USGS Earth Explorer and quantified the land use/cover changes in the Bhimtal town from 1990 to 2010 over a period of two decades. Supervised Classification methodology has been employed using Maximum Likelihood Technique in ERDAS 9.3. The images of the study area were categorized into four different classes, viz., built-up area, vegetation, agricultural land and water bodies. The results indicate that during the last two decades the built-up area has increased from 0.79 km 2 in 1990 to 4.11 km 2 in 2010 which accounts for 14.15% of the total sprawl area. The agricultural land has decreased from 8.92 km 2 in 1990 to 6.50 km 2 in 2010 which accounts for 10.49% of the total town area. The vegetation cover has been also decreased from 12.92 km 2 in 1990 to 12.07 km 2 in 2010. This decrease in vegetation cover accounts for 3.67% of the total town area. There is no traceable change in water body, it constitutes about 0.78 km 2 in 1990 and 2010. The study reveals that the Bhimtal town is expanding around the Bhimtal Lake with nuclear settlements.