Land Use and Land Coverage Analysis with Google Earth Engine and Change Detection in the Sonipat District of the Haryana State in India

Abstract

The natural environment is of the utmost significance not only for a particular location but also for the entire world. This is because the natural environment provides essential environmental services to the human population. However, the environment is being negatively impacted by human activity as well as population growth. The most significant impact is felt in the national capital region. Using the Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud platform and the QGIS desktop, the purpose of this research was to analyze the changes in land use and land cover (LULC) transformations that have taken place in the Sonipat district of India over the past ten years (2011–2021). Change detection (CD) of an LULC map is a method that examines shifts in LULC throughout time. Landsat 7 and the Sentinel 2 satellite image collections were utilized in this study. The study area was divided into four LULC categories using the most likely classified approach to quantify the changes over the aforementioned period. The results indicated that between 2011 and 2021, cropland in the study area decreased by about 11%. Built-up and urban areas increased by 3%. With the help of this study, decision-makers will be able to make choices that are appropriate in the given situation. The findings emphasize the value of satellite monitoring in reducing the rate of environmental degradation in the Sonipat district.

Keywords

• Google Earth Engine
• land use land cover
• climate change
• land degradation
• change detection
• urbanization