Understanding how local land use and land cover (LULC) shapes intra-urban concentrations of atmospheric pollutants-and thus human health-is a key component in designing healthier cities. Here, NO₂ is modeled based on spatially dense summer and winter NO₂ observations in Portland-Hillsboro-Vancouver (USA), and the spatial variation of NO₂ with LULC investigated using random forest, an ensemble d...

Remote sensing based on imagery has traditionally been the main tool used to extract land uses and land cover (LULC) maps. However, more powerful tools are needed in order to fulfill organizations requirements. Thus, this work explores the joint use of orthophotography and LIDAR with the application of intelligent techniques for rapid and efficient LULC map generation. In particular, five types...

Urban forest ecosystems provide a range of social and ecological services, but due to the heterogeneity of these canopies their spatial extent is difficult to quantify and monitor. Traditional per-pixel classification methods have been used to map urban canopies, however, such techniques are not generally appropriate for assessing these highly variable landscapes. Landsat imagery has historical...

Global climate change and increasing urbanization worldwide intensify the need for a better understanding of human heat stress dynamics in urban systems. During heat waves, which are expected to increase in number and intensity, the development of urban cool islands could be a lifesaver for many elderly and vulnerable people. The use of remote sensing data offers the unique possibility to study...

Accurate quantification of land use/cover change (LULCC) is important for efficient environmental management, especially in regions that are extremely affected by climate variability and continuous population growth such as West Africa. In this context, accurate LULC classification and statistically sound change area estimates are essential for a better understanding of LULCC processes. This st...

Mapping land use/land cover (LULC) changes at regional scales is essential for a wide range of applications, including landslide, erosion, land planning, global warming etc. LULC alterations (based especially on human activities), negatively effect the patterns of climate, the patterns of natural hazard and socio-economic dynamics in global and local scale. In this study, LULC changes are inves...

Rapid urbanization with intense land use and land cover (LULC) change and explosive population growth has a great impact on water quality. The relationship between LULC characteristics and water quality provides important information for non-point sources (NPS) pollution management. In this study, we first quantified the spatial-temporal patterns of five water quality variables in four watershe...

Various subpixel mapping (SPM) methods have been proposed as downscaling techniques to reduce uncertainty in classifying mixed pixels. Such methods can provide category maps of a higher spatial resolution than the original input images. The aim of this study was to explore and validate the potential of SPM as an alternative method for obtaining land use/land cover (LULC) maps of regions where h...

A frequent method used to assess land use / land cover (LULC) change is the comparison (overlay) of digital maps of an area within a geographic information system (GIS). However, positional errors of the maps involved in the comparison tend to create “false” change polygons and to overestimate LULC change. In this work, a simple method to improve change estimates by detecting and correcting err...

Air pollution has been a major topic of debate in highly developed areas over the last quarter century and therefore mitigation of poor air quality for health and environmental reasons has been a primary focus for local governments. Particulate matter, especially finer particles (PM2.5), is detrimental to human health, and urban expansion is thought to be a contributing factor to enhanced level...