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Use of cartographic data

and Landsat TM images to
determine land use change
in the vicinity of Mexico City
R. M. Prol-Ledesma , E. M. Uribe-Alcantara & O.
Diaz-Molina
Published online: 25 Nov 2010.

To cite this article: R. M. Prol-Ledesma , E. M. Uribe-Alcantara & O. Diaz-Molina

(2002) Use of cartographic data and Landsat TM images to determine land use
change in the vicinity of Mexico City, International Journal of Remote Sensing,
23:9, 1927-1933, DOI: 10.1080/01431160110087985

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 int. j. remote sensing, 2002, vol. 23, no. 9, 1927 –1933

Use of cartographic data and Landsat TM images to determine land

use change in the vicinity of Mexico City

R. M. PROL-LEDESMA1, E. M. URIBE-ALCÁNTARA2, and

O. DIAZ-MOLINA2
1Instituto de GeofÌ´sica, UNAM, Cd. Universitaria, Mexico, DF 04510, México
2Facultad de IngenierÌ´a,UNAM, Cd. Universitaria, México, D.F. 04510,
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México.

(Accepted 18 July 2001)

Abstract. Evaluation of change in land use is important for planning further

development in populated areas. Here we attempt to determine the growth of
urban areas in the vicinity of Mexico City, using a 1993 Landsat Thematic
Mapper (TM) image and cartographic data contained in maps published by the
Instituto Nacional de Estadistica GeograŽ a e Informatica (INEGI 1975, 1983).
The area occupied by urban areas in 1975 and 1983 was quantiŽ ed using raster
images generated by scanning the maps. Supervised classiŽ cation processes were
applied to a 1993 Landsat TM image in bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7, of the area of
Chalco. The image was pre-processed and then processed to enhance the spectral
response of the surface materials. The diVerent land cover types that characterise
distinct land uses in the study area were identiŽ ed in the image and an overall
classiŽ cation accuracy of 82% was estimated using aerial photographs from the
Chalco area. The resulting evaluation of the land use changes in the Chalco urban
area was plotted, and a growth greater than 14% per year was estimated.

1. Introduction
Change evaluation in landscape and land use can be obtained by the analysis of
multi-temporal images (Stadelman et al. 1994, Miller et al. 1996, Cablk et al. 1999,
Goetz et al. 1999), and algorithms have been developed to map changes in land
cover (Ridd and Liu 1998, Yuan and Elvidge 1998). However, the acquisition of
series of images is often not possible. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the
possibility of using data provided by other sources such as maps, aerial photographs ,
and even hand-held camera photographs . Photographs taken from the space shuttle
and other platforms have been used as an important aid in environmental studies
in areas that have been photographe d repeatedly. This makes possible the identiŽ ca-
tion of changes in land use, the eVects of river diversion by the construction of dams,
or the increase in deforestation and desertiŽ cation (Muehlberger 1996).
The integration of archive data in vector format or as cartographic data can be
an important tool in the evaluation of variation in land use. In Mexico, some studies
using topographic maps, satellite sensor images and photomaps assisted by the
use a GIS approach have been applied to delineate boundaries of environmental
units, and to evaluate slope range in agricultural areas as well as erosion rate
Internationa l Journal of Remote Sensing
ISSN 0143-116 1 print/ISSN 1366-590 1 online © 2002 Taylor & Francis Ltd
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
DOI: 10.1080/01431160110087985
 1928 R. M. Prol-L edesma et al.

(López-Blanco and Villers-Ruiz 1995, 1996). But no multi-temporal studies have

been undertaken using the same material.
Here we use topographi c and land-use maps in conjunction with a Landsat
Thematic Mapper (TM) image to evaluate the change in land use that has occurred
during the last three decades in the Chalco basin, as an example of unplanned
growth of urban areas in the vicinity of Mexico City.

2. Chalco Basin: characterisation and importance

The Chalco basin is located to the Southeast of Mexico City, between the
coordinates 19° 12ê –19° 19ê N latitude and 98° 55ê –99° 00ê W longitude. The mean
elevation is 2240 m above sea level and it occupies an area of 1124 km2 (Ž gure 1).
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The basin was formerly occupied by the Chalco Lake.

The hydrologic characteristics of this region have been summarised by Dellia
et al. (1992). Chalco is a well-deŽ ned hydrologic basin whose overall character is
similar to the rest of the Mexico City basin, and whose urban expansion endangers
the hydrologic recharge areas. At present, it shows an intense subsidence rate, and
subsidence-related phenomena, similar to that of Mexico City more than one decade
ago. The southern and central parts show the largest urban development in the
surroundings of Mexico City; however, the Chalco basin still keeps one of the few
remaining ecological reserves. The Chalco basin contains well-determined contamina-
tion sources; among them there is one of the largest solid waste dumps of Mexico
City and sewer canals. Its location favours the migration of contaminants towards
the main aquifers that provide water for the population of Mexico City. This makes
land use planning in Chalco one of the most important issues for the future of
Mexico City.

3. Data processing
Three data sources were used in this study: two topographic and land-use maps
(Ž gures 1 and 2) of the Chalco Basin printed in 1975 and 1983 (INEGI 1975, 1983 ),
and a 1993 Landsat TM image. We used the IDRISI software for image processing.
The maps were scanned at a 1:50 000 scale, and the polygons that deŽ ned diVerent
land use areas for 1975 and 1983 were digitised. After the maps were digitised, the
urban-use areas were marked and their surface estimated. The surface of urban areas
was calculated as the result of the sum of the residential, commercial, roads, and
industrial areas, and it was compared with the recent urban surface calculated from
the Landsat TM images.
Pre-processing of the image consisted of georeferencing and atmospheric correc-
tion. The image was georeferenced in UTM coordinates by the nearest neighbour
method using 50 control points. The atmospheric correction was calculated by the
method suggested by Jensen (1996).
After pre-processing the image, visual analysis was undertaken using false colour
composition and, to obtain a better deŽ nition of the type of vegetation in the study
area, we calculated the Normalized DiVerence Vegetation Index (NDVI).

4. Supervised classiŽ cation

Supervised classiŽ cation of the TM image was done using the maximum likeli-
hood algorithm in IDRISI (Eastman 1999) applied to the six non-thermal bands of
the image. The training sites for the supervised classiŽ cation were deŽ ned using a
false colour composite and a NDVI image. Crop Ž elds were identiŽ ed by their
 Remote Sensing L etters 1929
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Figure 1. Location and topographic map of the Chalco basin produced in 1975 (INEGI
1975 ).

regular shape and high to moderate values in the NDVI image. The residential and
commercial areas were identiŽ ed by their low NDVI and high albedo in the visible
part of the spectrum. The volcanoes, lava  ows and cinder cones are characterised
by high or medium NDVI values due to the presence of bushes or sparse vegetation.
Higher albedo pixels with larger areas than the residential and commercial zones
were identiŽ ed as industrial zones.
Observations of the spectral response in all visible and infrared bands deŽ ned an
area that remained dark in all bands, and we concluded that it was a  ooded crop
area at the time the image was taken. The occurrence of  oods is also a permanent
hazard in this former lake basin, and this should be taken into account to establish
regulations for growth of the urban areas.
The selected classes were: bare soil, residential and commercial,  ooded, healthy
crops, regular crops (intermediate NDVI crop), sparse vegetation or stressed crops,
bushes, roads, and industrial areas. The classes and their calculated surfaces are
shown in table 1, and the resulting image is presented in Ž gure 3.
Ground data gathered from aerial photograph s (1:75 000) and Ž eldwork were
used to estimate the accuracy of the classiŽ cation. The pixels for examination were
selected using a stratiŽ ed random scheme that combines a systematic scheme that
provides a geographic coverage simultaneously with a random scheme with a low
potential for bias (Eastman 1999). This approach yields a good coverage of the
predominant categories, as suggested by Congalton (1991). The accuracy of the data
can be assessed using the error matrix (table 2 ); in this matrix, the communications
 1930 R. M. Prol-L edesma et al.
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Figure 2. Map of the Chalco basin produced in 1983 (INEGI 1983).

Table 1. Classes obtained by supervised classiŽ cation of the six non-thermal bands of the
Chalco Landsat-TM image.

Class Area (m2) Percentage of total area

Bare soil 19 214 440 7.9

Residential and commercial areas 45 427 692 18.7
Flooded 2 793 439 1.1
Healthy crops 6 355 555 2.6
Regular crops 18 125 998 7.5
Sparse vegetation or stressed crops 94 116 984 38.8
Bushes 33 449 246 13.8
Roads 22 096 048 9.1
Industrial 1 140 597 0.5
Total 242 719 999 100

and urban area were evaluated as one class, as it was not possible in many cases to
separate the narrow streets from the houses. The overall accuracy was 82%.
The TM image was processed to enhance the spectral characteristics of the land
cover. After mapping the classes obtained by supervised classiŽ cation of the image,
their surface area was calculated (table 1).
 Remote Sensing L etters 1931
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Figure 3. Supervised classiŽ cation of the 6 bands of the Landsat Thematic Mapper image.

Table 2. Error matrix (pixel=sample units) calculated for the supervised classiŽ cation results.
Classes: 1—Residential, commercial and communications, 2—Industrial, 3—Flooded,
4—Bushes, 5—Healthy Crops, 6—Regular crops, 7—Sparse vegetation and stressed
crops, 8—Bare soil. User’s and Producer’s accuracy are shown in last column and
last row, respectively. TA is total accuracy.

User’s
PHOTO accuracy

Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Total
1 352 1 0 0 0 7 54 0 414 0.85
I 2 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 1
M 3 0 0 19 0 1 13 0 0 33 0.58
A 4 1 0 0 12 3 2 6 0 24 0.50
G 5 0 0 0 0 27 0 0 0 27 1
E 6 0 0 0 0 5 58 2 0 65 0.89
7 2 0 0 0 7 29 156 0 194 0.80
8 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 26 34 0.76
Total 359 3 19 12 43 110 221 26 793
Producer’s 0.98 0.67 1 1 0.63 0.53 0.71 1 TA
accuracy 0.82

5. Applications and conclusions

The calculation of the surface occupied by urban areas in 1975, 1983 and 1993
indicate an annual increase of about 14%. When comparing the urban areas obtained
by the classiŽ cation process in the TM image with the data from the old maps, we
found that the dramatic increase in the urban areas (table 3) was mostly at the
 1932 R. M. Prol-L edesma et al.

Table 3. Urban land use areas in Chalco in the years 1975, 1983 calculated from INEGI
maps, and in 1993 calculated from supervised classiŽ cation of the TM image.

Year Urban area (m2) Percentage of total area Annual increase (%)

1975 13 094 190 5.4

1983 28 223 864 11.6 14.4
1993 68 664 337 28.3 14.3

expense of agricultural land. The evaluation of the increase in urban areas has been
undertaken in other zones near Mexico City (Delgado 1994, Vergara 2000) using
the available maps, and the results (approximately 16%) are similar to those obtained
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here for the Chalco Basin. In all the studied zones, the increase in urban areas is
related with a decrease in agricultural land. The growth of urban areas in Chalco
presents a challenge to the conservation of the recharge areas for the main aquifers
and the preservation of protected areas. Therefore, a rational planning program
should be implemented for granting permissions to change land use in the Chalco
area. The integration of cartographic data and land use mapping based on Landsat
TM image classiŽ cation proved a valuable tool in the evaluation of land use temporal
changes. This makes feasible this kind of study when it is not possible to obtain
multi-temporal series of satellite sensor images. In the case of Chalco, the calculation
of the urban area surface was possible and the percentage evaluation of increase in
urban area was accomplished for the last three decades. This required the determina-
tion of the urban areas in the old maps (INEGI 1975, 1983), and the comparison
with the data obtained for the more recent Landsat TM image.

Acknowledgments
The authors thank the Instituto de GeografÌ´a, UNAM for providing the image
for this study, and Dr T. González-Morán for providing the aerial photographs .

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