EXTRACTION AND ASSESSMENT OF URBAN GREEN COVER USING REMOTE SENSING DATA

摘要

Mapping green cover in cities is vital for environmental protection and sustainable urban planning. However, only limited studies are available to monitor and quantify green cover in Malaysia. The aim of this study was to provide an overview of data and methods that can be used to map and monitor green cover in Malaysian cities. Medium resolution satellite data was found to provide acceptable mapping accuracies when sub-pixel classification techniques were used. However, if sufficient number of training data were used, per pixel techniques can produce higher classification accuracies. High spatial resolution aerial photos and satellite images are preferred over medium resolution images to extract detailed vegetation information that are crucial for management and planning purposes. The role of emerging technologies such as LiDAR is tremendous in mapping vegetation cover as height information significantly increased mapping accuracy. Fusion of LiDAR with medium and high resolution imageries is a methodological innovation for urban green cover mapping. These techniques along with other remotely sensed data are recommended to be used for urban vegetation mapping in Malaysia.