Monitoring of urban Land UseILand cover (LULC) changes in parts of greater Visakhapatnam municipal corporation (GVMC) and surrounding areas, A.P -Using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques

Urban areas are changing due to various human actIvItIes, natural conditions and developmental activities. According to the user requirements, updating of land use maps are required to various departments and hence information of land uselland cover in the form of maps and statistical data are very vital for spatial planning, management and proper utilization of land. In this paper an attempt is made to study the changes of land use and land cover between two data sets with a span of 12 years of Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) and surroundings areas. The study has been done through Remote Sensing and GIS approach using SOl topo sheets, and IRS LISS-III 1998, IRS LISS-III 2010 satellite data. The present study has brought to light that the land use/land cover classes like built-up land has increased from 15.38% to 27.71% during 1998–2010 with a net increase of 12.33%, industrial area has increased from 6.48% to 8.32% with a net increase of 1.84% during the years 1998–2010 and also area under plantations has increased from 10.42% to 10.87% during 1998–2010 with a net increase of 0.45%. But some classes like forest area have decreased from 27.95% to 18.34% with a net decrease of 9.61% during the years 19982010. And it was found that harbour area has remained unchanged during 1998–2010 which can be considered as a positive trend. The reasons for this increase and decrease have been discussed. Another important outcome of this study is the trend of illegal construction activity on the hill slopes of the study area. This aspect is taken up as on a priority bases in this study. The results indicate that during the study period (1998–2010). The hill slope occupation has been increased significantly from 1.88% (11.72sq.km) to 5.57% (34.65sq.km) indicating enormous rate at which the hill slopes are being occupied. This is an alarming indication for the GVMC to take immediate and necessary steps. So in order to monitor the land use/land cover pattern, proper land use planning is essential for a sustainable development. This is especially needed for the situation of hill slope occupation, otherwise this will have severe environmental impacts on natural drainage, slope vegetation, groundwater recharge besides resulting slope collapse. However the land uselland cover data of other classes during the study period (1998–2010) indicated certain changes which may not indicate significant environmental impact, however these trends need to be closely monitored for any complications that may arise in future, especially with regard to hill slope occupation.