Land use/land cover classification of Nagapattinam southern coastal region, Tamilnadu, India - using remote sensing and GIS

The study area represented in the Toposheet 58 N/13, N/14 and N/15 spread between the North latitude 10°13´ 30” and 10°51´30” and Longitudes 79°43´30” and 79°52´30” of Nagapattinam southern coastal region. Satellite imagery is used to identify the Land use/ Land cover status of the study area. The software like ERDAS 9.3 and Arc GIS 10.1 are used to demarcate the land use / Land cover features of Nagapattinam southern coast. Remote sensing and GIS provided consistent and accurate base line information than many of the conventional surveys employed for such a task. Supervised Classification Technique was applied to Landsat images in 1999 and 2009 data. Image Classification of seven reflective bands of two Landsat images is carried out by using maximum likelihood method with the aid of ground control point from SOI toposheet dated 1970. The result indicates that severe land cover changes have occurred in built-up land, agriculture land, has been experienced in the region between the 1999 and 2009. Mainly Land use and Land cover changes are occurring in coastal area region. The result of the work shows a rapid growth in built-up land between 1999 and 2009.