Author(s)

J. Lourengo

Abstract

Areas of urban sprawl can present difficulties for land use monitoring as these territories are a mixture of rural areas with several urban compounds generally spread along major road axis. The complexity of the analysis is further enhanced if the built area is mingled with vineyards as these can be difficult to distinguish from building roofs in hilly areas in certain periods of the year when they have the same reflectance. This paper is set to achieve three objectives: i) to present the results obtained in the Douro Valley that are still a land-mark in the Northern Region of Portugal; ii) to describe further developments of GIS for the Douro Region; iii) to discuss future practical applications. The analysis of urban sprawl evolution needed the use of aerial photographs in the urban fringe to validate the data extracted from the LANDSAT image used

Keywords