Land use change analysis of Beykoz-Istanbul by means of satellite images and GIS.

Management and planning of the natural environment requires spatially accurate and timely information on land use patterns. With repetitive satellite coverage, the rapid evolution of computer technology and the integration of satellite and spatial data, the development of land use applications have become ubiquitous. The integration of Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has been widely applied and recognized as a powerful and effective tool in detecting land use change in urban areas. This paper presents the land use change analysis of the Beykoz region, which is the second largest administrative district of Istanbul. Land use changes and their impacts are monitored using Landsat (MSS - TM) and Spot 5 satellite data in the period of 1975-2001. The independent classification of each satellite image was used as a change analysis method and the resulting images were analyzed with GIS techniques. The results showed that forest area of Beykoz decreased from 80.55% to 70.5% between 1975 and 1984 and during the 1984-2001 periods, the forested area decreased from 70.5% to 68.86% and the urban growth rate was 4.65%.

Investigation of coastal morphological changes due to river basin characteristics by means of remote sensing and GIS techniques.

The Riva River is located on the Anatolian (Asian) side of Istanbul by the Black Sea coast, with a wonderful sandy beach and delta formation which has been selected as the study area. The Riva is the largest river in this region, which flows into the Black Sea and also gives its' name to the area. The river carries some amount of sediments to the Black Sea. These particles cause considerable changes not only in the bed bathymetry and coastal boundaries of the river but also along the coastline of the Black Sea. The aim of this study is to determine these variations by means of satellite data and GIS. In the study, satellite images dated 1975, 1984, 1992 and 2001 have been used. At the end of the study, the possibility of observing bathymetric changes in front of the coastline by means of satellite data has been investigated and results were evaluated and visualised by means of GIS.