Monitoring urban growth around the metropolitan area of Barcelona with spot satellite imagery

Abstract

The SPOT5 satellite was launched in mid-2002 and offers the possibility of providing images for geographical areas measuring (60 km x by 60km) at a resolution of 2.5 metres. For urban planning applications in large metropolitan area, this degree of detail marks a significant advance over the specifications of previous images in the SPOT series. In recent years the population of the City of Barcelona has been in decline, in contrast to marked demographic increases in the wider metropolitan area. To date efforts to quantify such urban growth have depended upon the analysis of aerial photography and other more functional relations, utilising information based upon commuting and travel to work flows. This paper approaches the measurement of metropolitan urban growth from a strictly morphological perspective, drawing upon SPOT satellite imagery dating from 1995 and 2002. At the same time the paper assesses the value of the increased accuracy for urban planning activities from an operational perspective, resulting from the higher resolution of the SPOT5 images, for the monitoring of key urban development issues, both within the confines and beyond the edges of Barcelona’s metropolitan area.