Quantifying and visualizing 32 years of agricultural land use change in Kabul, Afghanistan

Journal of Maps
By: , and 

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Abstract

Agriculture is a key element of Afghanistan’s economy and plays an essential role supporting the expanding population and urban development of Kabul, the country’s capital. Over the past decades the urban landscape has changed substantially and agricultural land use has shifted in its extent, location, and density. Identifying trends in the amount of agricultural area, as an indication of food production, is important for city planning and humanitarian efforts. While many studies have investigated Afghanistan's agriculture, most are conducted at scales that preclude their use for local-scale decision-making. This study quantifies agricultural extent across 32 years from 1988 to 2020 at local scale using simple and repeatable Landsat multispectral image analysis. The volume of data in time-series analysis complicatesvisualization of key findings and long-term trends. This study also explored visualization methods such as zonal mapping, animations, and the isolation of key themes in a 2D static map.

Study Area

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Quantifying and visualizing 32 years of agricultural land use change in Kabul, Afghanistan
Series title Journal of Maps
DOI 10.1080/17445647.2022.2063079
Volume 18
Issue 2
Year Published 2022
Language English
Publisher Taylor & Francis
Contributing office(s) Florence Bascom Geoscience Center
Description 10 p.
First page 352
Last page 361
Country Afghanistan
City Kabul
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
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