Effect of Urbanization on Land Use Land Cover in Gombe Metropolis (Published)
This study examined the integration of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (RS/GIS) for analyzing land use and land cover dynamics in Gombe Metropolitan, the Gombe State capital for the period 1976 to 2016. Land sat (TM) images of 1976, 1996and 2016 were used. The study employed supervised digital image classification method using Erdas Imagine 9.2 and Arc GIS 10.5 software and classified the land use into undisturbed vegetation, sparse vegetation, Settlements, Farmlands, Rock outcrops, Bare surfaces. The images were analyzed via georeferencing, image enhancement, image resampling and classification. The results obtained showan increasing settlements (from 0.36% – 4.01%) and farmlands (from 24.8% – 51.2%), over a decreasing of other LULC classes (bare surfaces, undisturbed and sparse vegetation, and rocky outcrops) for the time period of 1976 to 2016. These results could help city planners and policy makers to attain and sustain future urban development. It is therefore recommended that encouragement should be given to people to build towards the outskirts, like New mile 3 and Tumfure,etc through the provision of incentives and forces of attraction that is available at the city center in these areas to avoid the problem of overcrowdings.
Keywords: : GIS, Change Detection, Remote Sensing, Urbanization, gombe, land use
Impact of Urbanization on Vegetation Cover in Gombe Metropolis and Environs (Published)
Demographic characteristics and economic development are the major determinants of urban shape and pattern of urbanization in Gombe which gave rise to rapid population growth. These determinants resulted to unplanned urban growth, unprecedented urbanization and land use change as a result contributing in the rapid reduction of vegetation cover and loss of arable land in the surrounding urban environment. The aim of this paper is on the impact of urbanization on vegetation cover. Both primary and secondary data was employed in this work. Socio-economic data and information on the status of tree species were gathered through questionnaire survey that involved 195 respondents using purposive sampling techniques in the study area. While the land use land cover analysis was carried out using ArcGis 10.5 and Edras Imagine 9.0. The finding was made to capture as accurate as possible six land use land cover classes as they changed through time. The result of the work shows a rapid decrease on the vegetation and a gradual increase in settlements between 1976 and 2016 due to the fact that Gombe metropolis became the capital of Gombe state in 1996. Also only few tree species were found within the study area, as most trees are cut down for various developmental purposes. The study recommends that urgent attention on conservation of vegetal resources within the metropolis should be encouraged.
Keywords: Environment, Expansion, Population, Urbanization, Vegetation