Evaluation of the Land Cover Features from Landsat TM over Saudi ArabiaSchool of Physics, Universiti Sains Malaysia Sultan AlSultan ISPRS, Commission 7 WG VII/7, Middle East Coordinator Riaydh City, Saudi Arabia ABSTRACT Land cover classification from remotely sensed image is an important research and widely used in remote sensing application. A Landsat TM scene was used for land cover mapping over AlQasim, Saudi Arabia. Standard supervised classification techniques were applied to the Landsat TM image. Training sites and land cover categories were selected within the satellite scene using polygon. An accuracy assessment was also carried out in this study. Maximum Likelihood classifier produced superior result and achieved a high degree of accuracy. Finally, a land cover map was generated using the optimum supervised classification technique. A brief discussion on the land cover over Saudi Arabia is given in this paper. INTRODUCTION Remote sensing can be used in various purposes. In the past few years, there has been a growing interest in the use of remote-sensing systems for a regular monitoring of the earth’s surface (Bruzzone and Prieto, 2002). Remote sensing is the main source of space information. Since the launch of satellites, remotely sensed data have been used to produce topographic, land use and land cover maps. Land cover classification through remote sensing methods has been widely used by the United State Geological Survey Department (Adam, et al., 2002). Two of the most common uses of satellite images are mapping land cover via image classification and land cover change via change detection (Song, et al., 2001). The aim of this study is to investigate whether the high spatial resolution of Landsat TM imagery is suitable for land cover mapping using supervised classification techniques. In this study, supervised classification methods were applied to the satellite images. Maximum Likelihood classifier was found to produce the best accuracy in this study. The accuracy assessment of the classified images also has been done in this study. STUDY AREA The Landsat TM images used in this study was acquired on 15 June 1998 (Fig. 1). The satellite track is 168/43. The selected study area is centered on the city of Buraydah in Al-Qassim state, which is situated along Wadi Ar Rumah, Saudi Arabia. Figure 1 shows the study area of the City of Alkhabra and its surrounding desert terrain. The urban transportation network of Buraydah dominates the central portion of the image. Though large portions of the surrounding terrain contain desert features (sand dunes and Sabkah lakes). The western portion of the city is dominated by date palm grove vegetation and agriculture. There are definitely areas of Buraydah that are clearly being affected by dune encroachment. Our preliminary analysis clearly indicates that satellite imagery and the use of land cover mapping provides a means to identify and quantify the effects of desert processes upon urban areas.  Fig. 1 The study area of the City of Alkhabra, Saudi Arabia
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