Detection of Land Use and Land Cover Change in the Accra Metropolitan Area (Ghana) from 1990 to 2000

Ebenezer Kwakye Bentum

Masters of Science Thesis in Geoinformatics TRITA-GIT EX 07-013 School of Architecture and the Built Environment Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden October 2009

TRITA-GIT EX 07-013

ISSN 1653-5227 ISRN KTH/GIT/EX--07/013-SE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Getting something done is an accomplishment but getting it done well is an achievement. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere and profound gratitude to the entire staff of the Department of Geodesy and Geoinformatics at Royal Institute of Technology for the training they have given me throughout the entire studies. Special thanks to Dr. Hans Hauska (Assoc. Prof.) and Dr. Yifang Ban (Prof.) for their able assistance, patience and constructive criticism without which the work wouldn't have been successful. I am indebted to the entire staff of Geomatic Engineering, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana for giving me the basic training and knowledge which motivated me for further studies. I appreciate the help of Emmanuel Tetteh and Eric Kofi Forson, both at Centre for Remote Sensing and GIS, University of Ghana, Legon. I am also highly indebted to my mother for the financial, moral and spiritual support throughout my studies. I would like to express my appreciation to Alfred Awotwi, KTH for generating the regression equations (using PCI Geomatica) which were used in normalising the satellite images used in the analysis. Last but not least, I wish to express my sincere and profound gratitude to all my friends for their encouragement and support; especially Amos Atakorah Mensah, Alfred Awotwi, Daniel Dennis Konadu of

University of Oxford and Joseph Sakyiama Afari of University of Westminster, UK. Finally, my deepest appreciation goes to the Almighty God for his continuous benevolence, sustenance of life, provision of wisdom, guidelines and knowledge throughout my studies.

Stockholm, Sweden, October 2009

ABSTRACT
There has been rapid change in the land use and land-cover types in Accra, Ghana in the past decade. The major change is the conversion of agriculture and forest lands into urban areas mostly in an un-planned manner making urban sprawl characterising the urban change dynamics. Land use change has been the reason for many social, economic and environmental problems in Accra, the capital city of Ghana over the past decade. This has engaged many researchers to find out possible measures to address and monitor this phenomenon. The ultimate objective of the research is to detect the land use/land-cover change of Accra from 1990 to 2000. Satellite images of Accra at two different periods, 25/12/1990 and 04/02/2000 were analysed. Two change detection techniques namely post classification comparison (indirect method) and image-to-image comparison change detection (direct method) were employed. The different change detection techniques were also evaluated. In the indirect method, both supervised and unsupervised classifications were performed. The supervised classification proves to be better than the unsupervised classification with accuracies of 85.62% and 89.1% for 1990 and 2000 classified images are respectively. Post-classification comparison change detection was conducted to reveal the areas that have changed over the decade. In this method, the from-to-change informational classes were available. The results revealed drastic growth of urban areas and reduction of agriculture and forest lands over the decade. Overall accuracy for both change/no-change trajectories was found to be 74.63% with kappa index of 0.698. Although the classes were being detected correctly as change/nochange area, some of the change trajectories do not necessarily match the corresponding real cases. The change detection procedure, however, was able to identify the areas of significant change. In the direct change detection method (image-to-image comparison), three different techniques were used and evaluated. The three methods are: normalised difference vegetation index, principal component analysis and TassCap transformation. The accuracies for detecting the changes in the urban area for the indirect methods used are 79.51%, 82.32% and 70.13% respectively with kappa indexes are 0.715, 0.753 and 0.698. The seasonal variation of the two satellite images used in the analysis affected the spectral resolution which subsequently affected the change detection process. Because of the variation of the temporal resolution and other environmental factors, the same land cover class can have different radiance values between the images. It can be concluded from the resulting statistics that the image-to-image change detection was more accurate that the post-classification comparison. The landcover/land-use classes classified are closed vegetation, open vegetation, dense herbaceous cover, grass, urban/bare areas and water bodies. The percentage change in the land cover classes was found to be 56.4%, 64.07%, 28.7%, 25.61%, 59.34% and 3.8% respectively. ii

TABLE OF CONTENT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .................................................................................................. iii ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................... ii LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................ v LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ vi 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Background .................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Problem statement ........................................................................................................ 2 1.3 Objective ...................................................................................................................... 3 1.4 Outline of sections/organisation of the thesis ................................................................ 3 2 OVERVIEW OF URBAN SPRAWL, LAND COVER/LAND ........................................ 4 USE CHANGE AND CHANGE DETECTION .................................................................. 4 2.1 Definition of urban sprawl ............................................................................................ 4 2.2 Characteristics of sprawl .............................................................................................. 5 2.2.1. Single use zoning .................................................................................................. 5 2.2.2. Low - density land use .......................................................................................... 5 2.2.3 Car dependent communities ................................................................................... 5 2.2.4 Leap frog development .......................................................................................... 6 2.3 View of Urban sprawl ................................................................................................... 6 2.4 Causes of urban sprawl ................................................................................................. 6 2.5 Effects of sprawl .......................................................................................................... 7 2.6 Difference between land use and land cover ................................................................. 7 2.7 Usefulness of remote sensing technology in land use change studies ............................ 7 2.7.1 Definition of change detection ............................................................................... 8 2.7.2 Previous works on change detection worldwide ..................................................... 8 2.7.3 Overview of Change detection techniques ........................................................... 12 2.7.4 Previous work on change detection in Ghana ....................................................... 15 3 STUDY AREA AND DATA DESCRIPTION ................................................................. 18 3.1 Description of the study area ...................................................................................... 18 3.1.1 Boundary and Administrative Area ...................................................................... 18 3.1.2 Land use and land cover types ............................................................................. 19 3.2 Potential users and stakeholders ................................................................................. 20 3.3 Data Collected ............................................................................................................ 20 4 METHODOLOGY FOR LAND USE/LAND COVER CHANGE ................................ 23 DETECTION ..................................................................................................................... 23 4.1 Flow chart for the methods employed ......................................................................... 23 4.2 Pre-processing of the multiple date remotely sensed data:........................................... 24 4.3 Image classification .................................................................................................... 24 4.3.1 Unsupervised classification.................................................................................. 26 4.3.1.1 Clustering to detect the land use classes ........................................................ 27 4.3.1.2 Aggregation of clusters ................................................................................. 27 iii

4.3.2 Supervised Classification ..................................................................................... 28 4.3.2.1 Training Sites Development .......................................................................... 28 4.3.2.2 Signature Development ................................................................................. 29 4.3.2.3 Maximum Likelihood Classifier........................................................................ 29 4.3.2.4 Classification accuracy assessment ............................................................... 30 4.3.3 Post classification comparison change detection .................................................. 31 4.3.3.1 Detecting from-to change using Cross Classification and Tabulation........... 32 4.3.3.2 Detecting and Visualization of change in urban areas by colour coding ......... 32 4.3.3.3 Change Map ................................................................................................. 32 4.3.3.4 Change detection accuracy ............................................................................ 33 4.4 Image Differencing..................................................................................................... 33 4.4.1 Radiometric normalisation ................................................................................... 34 4.4.2 Image Enhancement ............................................................................................ 35 4.4.3 Image-to-image comparison (Differencing) ......................................................... 35 4.4.3.1 Normalised Difference Vegetation Index ....................................................... 35 4.4.3.2 Principal Component Analysis ...................................................................... 36 4.4.3.3 Tasselled Cap transformations (TASSCAP) ................................................... 37 5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS..................................................................................... 38 5.1 Unsupervised classification ........................................................................................ 38 5.1.1 Clustering ............................................................................................................ 38 5.1.2 Aggregation of clusters ........................................................................................ 38 5.2 Supervised classification ............................................................................................ 41 5.3 Classification accuracy assessment ............................................................................. 42 5.4 Post-classification comparison using supervised classification.................................... 48 5.4.1 Detecting and Visualization of from-to changes by colour coding ...................... 51 5.4.2 Change/Non-Change map .................................................................................... 53 5.4.3 Change detection accuracy assessment ................................................................ 53 5.5 Image Differencing.........................................................................................................56 5.5.1 Radiometric Normalisation .................................................................................. 57 5.5.2 Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) ................................................ 59 5.5.2.1 Performance and limitations of NDVI ........................................................... 60 5.5.3 Principal Component Analysis (PCA) .................................................................. 62 5.5.4 TASSCAP transformations................................................................................... 64 5.6 Change areas accuracy assessment ............................................................................. 66 5.7 General discussions .................................................................................................... 67 5.7.1 Closed vegetation cover ....................................................................................... 69 5.7.2 Open vegetation cover ......................................................................................... 69 5.7.3 Dense Herbaceous cover ...................................................................................... 69 5.7.4 Grass/herb ........................................................................................................... 69 5.7.5 Built up/bare area ................................................................................................ 70 5.7.6 Water ................................................................................................................... 70 6 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................ 71 6.1 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 71 6.2 Recommendation........................................................................................................ 72 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 73

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LIST OF TABLES
Table1: Number of pixel selected in each land-cover category for training ..........................29 Table 2: Correlation between the bands and principal components........................................37 Table 3: Error matrix for 1990 land use map of of Accra (Unsupervised)..43 Table 4: Error matrix for 2000 land use map of Accra (Unsupervised)......44 Table 5: Error matrix for 1990 land use map of Accra (Supervised). ....45 Table 6: Error matrix for 2000 land use map of Accra (Supervised)......46 Table 7: Producers and users accuracy in percentage for unsupervised Classification..........................................................................................................................47 Table 8: Producers and users accuracy in percentage for supervised classification................47 Table 9: Cross tabulation results for classified images, 1990 and 2000.................................49 Table 10: Percentage Change of the land-cover types from 1990 to 2000..51 Table11: Error matrix analysis of from-to-change................................................................55 Table 12: Producers and Users accuracies of the from-to change.........................................56 Table13: Change detection accuracies image-to-image comparison methods........................67

LIST OF FIGURES
Fig. 1: Map of Accra metropolis showing the surrounding districts ..................................19 Fig. 2: Satellite image of Accra, 1990.................................................................................21 Fig. 3: Satellite image of Accra, 2000.................................................................22 Fig. 4: Flow chart for the methodology..............................................................................23 Fig. 5: clustering of 1990 image .......................................................................................38 Fig. 6: clustering of 2000 image..........................................................................................38 Fig.7: Land use map of Accra, 1990 from unsupervised classification...............................39 Fig.8. Land use map of Accra, 2000 from unsupervised classification...............................40 Fig.9: Land use map of Accra, 1990 from supervised classification...................................41 Fig.10: Land use map of Accra, 2000 from supervised classification.................................42 Fig.11. Cross classification image for transition from 1990 to 2000..................................48 Fig.12. Transformation of open vegetation-cover into urban areas ....................................50 Fig.13. Change in urban areas from 1990 to 2000..............................................................52 Fig 14: Change/Non-Change map.......................................................................................53 Fig15: Scatter plot for 1990 band2(y) and 2000 band2(x)..................................................57 Fig16: Scatter plot for 1990 band3(y) and 2000 band3(x)..................................................58 Fig17: Scatter plot for 1990 band4(y) and 2000 band4(x)..................................................58 Fig18: Normalised difference vegetation difference for 1990 image..................................59 Fig19: Normalised difference vegetation Index for 2000 image.........................................60 Fig.20: Change in vegetation/Non-change area...................................................................62 Fig. 21: Principal component transformation for 1990 image.............................................63 Fig. 22: Principal component transformation for 2000 image.............................................63 Fig. 23: Difference in the second Principal components.....................................................64 Fig. 24: Differencing in the brightness value between the two images...............................64 Fig.25: Difference in greenness value between the two images..........................................65 Fig.26: Differencing moistens (Change/non-change map from differencing moistens layers....................................................................................................................................66 Fig.27. General Comparison of Area occupy by Land cover categories in Accra...............68

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1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
In recent times, many decision makers, government bodies and agencies, urban planners, environmentalist etc., have expressed much concern about changes in land use/ land cover change dynamics. Expansion of urban areas is currently a ubiquitous phenomenon in developing countries of Africa. The region has the highest rate of urbanization in the world, though unaccompanied by economic growth (World Bank, 1995). Dramatic acceleration in urban growth and the associated ecological footprint (Rees, 1992) have serious implications for land-cover change on the one hand, and sustainability of urban and peri-urban livelihoods on the other. This phenomenon has engaged many researchers to investigate into the possible causes, its effect and pragmatic measures to alleviate its occurrence. There are many driving forces contributing to this phenomenon which could be social, economic or geographic in nature. In most cases, agriculture lands are being converted to residential, industrial and commercial lands. The major land cover change as described by many researchers is the expansion of the urban areas at the expense of vegetated areas. The expansion of the urban areas is described as a quality residential sprawl. Urban sprawl is sometimes used by some people to describe almost any growth but this is misleading cited by Ademola et.al (2003). This phenomenon is usually associated with the idea of unsuitable development. It depends on numerous simultaneous processes which make it difficult to deal with. Its modelling appears then an interesting means to understand and to run simulations according to different scenarios of urban development for making planning decisions. These changes and their repercussions require careful consideration by local and regional land managers and policy makers in order to make informed decisions that effectively balance the positive aspects of development and its negative impacts in order to preserve environmental resources and increase socioeconomic welfare. In order to understand the expansion of the urban fringe, its causes, effects and measures to alleviate this pandemic, an interdisciplinary approach is needed. There is the need to understand the possible causes, its effect on the environment, the economic and social impacts as well. In order to simulate the land cover change dynamics, the following should be considered: (i) Classification of the land-cover categories (ii) Quantification of the dynamics of the land-cover classes
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(iii) Detection of the change These are associated to a spatio-temporal database using a grid to store the needed information within the GIS environment and the available technology. Land cover change is a dynamical temporal process which can be simulated and modelled. Some models established with remote sensing technologies have been achieved by combining time series and spatial analysis. With the advancement in technology, remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) prove to be important tools in addressing land cover change dynamics phenomenon. The use of digital change detection is becoming increasingly popular as means of studying changes in the landscape.

1.2 Problem statement

Accra, population 1,970,000 (2005) is the capital of Ghana and the country's largest city as well. It is the administrative and economic centre. The primary economic activities are financial and other services, agriculture, fishing and manufacturing such as lumber and plywood, textiles, clothing and chemicals (Wikipedia, 2007). Previous researches on the nexus of global and local forces suggest that African cities such as Accra and Dar-esSalaam are experiencing new forms of settlement. For Accra, the new form has been described as a quality residential sprawl with centric tendencies. Demographic and housing data confirm the emergence of this form (Ghana Statistical Service, 2000). This development is significant to city planners and managers, not just in Accra but in other African cities as well. Accra is rapidly expanding within the last few decades and this expansion is characterised by sprawl which poses many environmental, economic and other related social issues. The urban sprawl is creating many problems in almost all spheres of human endeavour. In order to understand the causes, effects and possible measures to alleviate its occurrence, interdisciplinary approaches should be combined. Ghanas Population census 2000 indicates 43.8% urban dwellers, as against 9% in 1931. The growth rate is 2.6% per annum, and the urban population of Accra is expected to double in 17 years (Ghana Statistical Service, 2000). The metropolitan area alone represents 25% of all urban dwellers in Ghana with an increasing rate of 4.2% per annum, (Ghana Statistical Service, 2000). In order to simulate the past, present and the future states of the sprawl, there is the need to integrate many technologies like Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing Technology which will provide an optimal trade-off between reliability, accuracy, time and cost of modelling.

1.3 Objective
The objective of this research is the detection of the land use/cover change in Accra. Some of the sub objectives are: Classification of the land cover categories Quantification of the dynamics of the land cover classes Detection of the change/no-change areas Evaluation of the different change detection methods and techniques

1.4 Outline of sections/organisation of the thesis

Chapter one of this report deals with the general introduction, which includes the background to the project, problem statement and objective of the study. Chapter two is the overview of urban sprawl, land use/cover change and previous work done on change detection. Chapter three deal with study area and data description. Chapter four extensively deals with the methodology employed in image classification and digital change detection. Chapter five focuses on the results and analysis. Chapter six provides conclusion and recommendations.

2 OVERVIEW OF URBAN SPRAWL, LAND COVER/LAND USE CHANGE AND CHANGE DETECTION
'Urban sprawl' has recently become a subject of popular debate and policy initiatives from governmental bodies and nonprofit organizations. With the advancement in technology, the phenomenon could be simulated and modelled so that policy formulation and implementation regarding urban planning could be made. This chapter will highlight on the above things discussed.

2.1 Definition of urban sprawl

Many organizations have attempted to provide a definition, but it turns out that the definition depends on that organizations perspective, usually polarized between a pro-growth and an antisprawl viewpoint. Below are definitions from various organizations as stated by centre for land use education (2003) The Heritage Foundation: Sprawl simply refers to the low-density, residential development beyond a citys limits. Reason Public Policy Institute: Many people think sprawl is synonymous with suburbanizationAnother way of characterizing this process is thinking of sprawl as the transitional period between rural and urban land use. National Trust for Historic Preservation, Rural Heritage Program: Sprawl is dispersed, lowdensity development that is generally located at the fringe of an existing settlement and over large areas of previously rural landscape. It is characterized by segregated land uses and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: [Sprawl is a] pattern of growth [that] has largely occurred in an unplanned, ad hoc fashion. The Sierra Club: Sprawlscattered development that increases traffic, saps local resources and destroys open space. Natural Resources Defence Council: Sprawling development eats up farms, meadows and forest, turning them into strip malls and subdivisions that serve cars better than people. Combining all these definitions, urban sprawl could be defined as rapid and expansive growth of a greater metropolitan area and traditionally suburbs over a large area. The term has been used by some critics to describe almost any urban growth but in reality that is not the case. The usage thus

sometimes tends to be misleading. Urban sprawl could occur as a result of urban growth but the converse may not be necessarily true.

2.2 Characteristics of sprawl

There are different types of urban sprawl. The type of sprawl determines the characteristics. The various definitions for urban sprawl suggest that there are different characteristics of sprawl. The most common ones as cited in Wikipedia (2007) are; single use zoning low density land use car dependent communities Leap frog development

2.2.1. Single use zoning

This is the type of sprawl whereby industrial, commercial and residential are separated from one another, Wikipedia (2007). Large tracts of land are devoted to the same type of development. The various zones are separated from each other by either roads, green spaces or any other type of physical barrier. As a result, the places where people live, work, shop and recreate are necessarily far apart from one another. In Accra, the single use zoning tends to be inferior.

2.2.2. Low - density land use

In this case, sprawl consumes much more land than traditional urban development because new developments are of low density. Single family houses are mixed up with apartments. Buildings usually have fewer stories and are spaced further apart separated by lawns, landscaping roads, parking lots or pavement etc., Wikipedia (2007). In these areas, urbanised land is increasing at faster rate than the population. Sometimes the term leap-frog development may be used. Such developments are typically separated by large tracts of undeveloped land, resulting in a very low average density. This is because of the current policies involved in developing parcels of land whereby users may be asked to set aside some portion of the developed land for some public use. But its not common in Accra.

2.2.3 Car dependent communities

Areas of urban sprawl are sometimes characterised as being dependent on auto-mobiles, motorbikes

and bicycles for transportation. Most activities such as shopping, commuting to work, concerts etc. require the use of a car because of isolation of residential and commercial zones. In Accra the areas that are quite away from the city centres like Pokuase exhibit this type of sprawl character.

2.2.4 Leap frog development

This type of sprawl means jumping from a built up area over an open space to another built up area. That is a new development that does not follow a planned, orderly development pattern and that jumps to areas outside of where services are readily available. This type of development is not common in Accra.

2.3 View of Urban sprawl

Separation of land used for different purposes is a typical characteristic of urban sprawl. Sprawl has physical separation of space used for different purposes such as housing subdivisions, shopping centres, office parks, civic institutions and road-networks etc. Urban sprawl is perceived as economically inefficient, environmentally irresponsible and aesthetically ugly. Bruegmann (2004) calls it a logical consequence of economic growth and the democratization of society, with benefits that urban planners have failed to recognise. People have different perception about the sprawl. Some think sprawl has enabled man to satisfy his social, economic and environmental needs while others think it is generating unnecessary tension on land use. This has raised a lot of debates about urban sprawl phenomena.

2.4 Causes of urban sprawl

Sprawl is occurring as a result of response to social, economic forces and to the physical geography of an area. Some of these factors as described by Wassmer and Edward (2005) are: population growth strong economy in cities (while weak in countryside) increasing household income in the inner city fragmented municipal governments increased infrastructure cost decrease in social capital patterns of infrastructure investments

 topographic barriers and other physical constraints upon development

2.5 Effects of sprawl

Sprawl has both favourable and unfavourable impacts. Considering the social impacts, sprawl contributes in providing housing opportunities and affordability to minorities. But it has some social disadvantages as described by Wassmer and Edward (2005) which include lost of community spirit, values, higher taxes etc. Its impact on ecosystems and environmental resources is considerable. Sprawl tends to degrade environmental resources such as air quality, landscape aesthetics and destroys wildlife habitats as well.

2.6 Difference between land use and land cover

There has been confusion on the use of the terms land use and land cover. The distinction between 'land use' and 'land management practice' is also poorly understood. Land tenure and commodities are other aspects of land occupation that can relate to land use and contribute to land use mapping. These categories can be distinguished from each other by the following definitions as stated by the Australian Government, Bureau of Rural Sciences (October, 2006).

2.7 Usefulness of remote sensing technology in land use change studies

Patterns of land use change and analysis of temporal changes can easily be identified with remote sensing technology in a way that provides an optimal trade-off between cost, accuracy and reliability. The multi-temporal analysis of changes in the land cover provides sufficient information about the dynamics of this typical land use as cited by Maldonado et al. (2002). Remote sensing technology over the decades has been an indispensable tool in environmental modelling. Timely and accurate change detection of Earth's surface features is extremely important for understanding relationships and interactions between human and natural phenomena in order to promote better decision making as cited by Lu et al. (2004). This is accomplished by analysing temporal satellite images/ remotelysensed image data to reveal the trend of the land-cover dynamics. Remote sensing technology has been successfully used to study the changes and modelling of expansion of urban areas. Some of the studies in land-cover changes using remote sensing in many fields are highlighted in the subsequent sub chapters, (2.7.2). Some of the examples are forestry, agriculture and sea-ice monitoring and have achieved satisfactory results. Image arithmetic such as differencing is one of the easiest image analysis techniques used to recognise change in the pattern of the landscape. Other techniques like
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post classification change detection has been popular in detecting changes of urban fringe as it provides from- to information. Remote sensing application contributes a lot in studying urban sprawl phenomenon.

2.7.1 Definition of change detection

Change detection is the process of identifying differences in the state of an object or phenomenon by observing it at different times cited by Singh (1989). Timely and accurate change detection of Earths surface features provides the framework for better understanding, relationships and interactions between human and natural phenomena to better manage and use resources. Change detection normally entails the application of multi-temporal datasets to quantitatively analyse the temporal effects of the phenomenon. Because of the advantages of repetitive data acquisition, its synoptic view, and digital format suitable for computer processing, remotely sensed data such as Thematic Mapper, Probatoired Observation de la Terre (SPOT), radar and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), have become the major data sources for different change detection applications during the past decades cited by Lu et al. ( 2004).

2.7.2 Previous works on change detection worldwide

There are different applications of change detection. Mausel et al. (2004) elaborated on the change detection applications. There are nine of these applications namely:

1 Urban change: Ramadan et al. (2005) assessed urban growth in the Shaoxing city using satellite remotely sensed data at three epoch time. The methodology used was based on post classification comparison. Results showed that the built-up area surrounding Shaoxing City has expanded at an annual average of 7 square kilometres. Analysis of the classified map showed that the physical growth of the urban area is upsetting the other land cover classes. Gupta et al. (2005) conducted a research to reveal urban/agriculture changes using multi-scale analysis in Dehradoon city in India. The authors of this paper have compared the results of five different techniques of band combination, subtraction, band division, principal component analysis and classification to find the changes in Dehradoon city, India. The research concluded that in the case of multi-resolution data, direct comparison of two multi-level image dates is restricted because various spectral and texture phenomena exist at different scales and resolutions. A method is required to allocate the unique value to each smoothed area (representing one class)
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resulting from segmentation. Selection of the method depends on the number of classes, the spectral variability of the classes (urban has noisy appearance and complex nature), and the situation of the study area. Yuan et al. (1998) conducted a land cover change detection pilot study of the Washington D.C. area. Seventy-five change-detection techniques and variations were systematically tested and evaluated using both visual and statistical methods The initial results suggest that the automated scatter-gramcontrolled regression normalized image differencing and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) differencing outperform most other change-detection techniques. However, more testing of the data is needed in geographically diversified regions. Mas (1999) conducted six change detection procedures using Landsat Multi-Spectral Scanner (MSS) images for detecting areas of changes in the region of the TeA minos Lagoon, a coastal zone of the state of Campeche, Mexico. The change detection considered were image differencing, vegetative index differencing, selective principal component analysis (SPCA) direct date unsupervised classification, post classification change differencing and a combination of image enhancement and post classification. The research revealed that Post-classification comparison is the most accurate procedure for indicating the nature of the changes.

2. Forest or vegetation change: Allum and Dreisinger (1987) conducted a research on natural environment change detection in danube delta, based on HRV - spot images The spatio-temporal distribution of vegetation is an important component of the urban/suburban environment. Therefore correct estimation of vegetation cover in urban/suburban areas is fundamental in land use studies. Graetz et al. (1988) conducted research on a combined approach for estimating vegetation cover in urban/suburban environments from remotely sensed data in Haidian district, Beijing. In this study, the potential of extracting fractional vegetation cover (FVC) from remotely sensed data and ground measurements is explored. Based on the assumption that pixel has a mosaic structure, sub-pixel models for FVC estimation are first introduced. Then a combined approach of using different subpixel models for FVC estimation based on land cover classification is proposed. The experimental result, derived from a case study in Haidian district, Beijing, indicates that the accuracy of FVC estimation using the proposed method can be up to 80.7%. The results suggest that this method may be generally useful for FVC estimation in urban and suburban areas. Townshend and Justice (1995) conducted research on spatial variability of images and the monitoring of changes in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index using multi spectral scanner
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images from seven contrasting areas. The images were analysed using scale variance analysis to determine the spatial frequencies present. Specifically images of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) were analysed, which is sensitive to vegetation activity. Image arithmetic Analyses were performed on images for each of the two dates and change images derived by subtracting the NDVI values of the first images from those of the second date. The change images were characterized by higher spatial frequencies than the images of individual dates, but this was only marked for four of the seven areas. Contrary to initial expectations, knowledge of the spatial frequency content of the images from the two dates could not be used to infer the spatial frequencies present in the change images and hence the spatial resolutions needed for detecting change in the NDVI.

3. Forest mortality, defoliation and damage assessment: Royle and Lathrop (1997) demonstrated the viability of using change detection technique to monitor hemlock forest health in New Jersey using Landsat TM data. A prolonged drought in the western US has resulted in alarming levels of mortality in conifer forests within 1988 and 1991. Satellite remote sensing holds the potential for mapping and monitoring the effects of such environmental changes over large geographic areas in a timely manner cited by Macomber and Woodcock (1994). Results from the application of a forest canopy reflectance model using multi-temporal Landsat TM imagery and field measurements, indicated that conifer mortality can be effectively mapped and inventoried. The test area for this project was Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit in the Sierra Nevada of California. The Landsat TM images are from the summers of 1988 and 1991. The Li-Strahler canopy model estimates several forest stand parameters, including tree size and canopy cover for each conifer stand, from reflectance values in satellite imagery. The difference in cover estimates between the dates forms the basis for stratifying stands into mortality classes, which are used as both themes in a map and the basis of the field sampling design. The results of this project are immediately useful for fire hazard management, by providing both estimates of the degree of overall mortality and maps showing its location. They also indicated that current remote sensing technology may be useful for monitoring the changes in vegetation that are expected to result from climate change. Forest canopy and volume change can be simulated by remote sensing technology. Collins and Woodcock 1994, mapped forest vegetation of Tahoe and Stanislaus National Forests using landsat TM imagery and a canopy reflectance model. Results of timber inventories in the forests indicate the vegetation maps form a useful basis for stratification.

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4. Deforestation, regeneration and selective logging: Change detection can be used in deforestation, regeneration and selective logging. Wilson and Sader (2002) conducted a research on Detecting of forest harvest type using multiple dates of Landsat TM imagery in northern Maine. The RGB-NDMI change detection classification applied to Landsat TM imagery collected every 2-3 years appears to be a promising technique for monitoring forest harvesting and other disturbances that do not remove the entire over storey canopy. Guatemala's Maya Biosphere Reserve (MBR) has recently experienced high rates of deforestation corresponding to human migration and expansion of the agricultural frontier. Given the importance of land-cover and land-use change data in conservation planning, accurate and efficient techniques to detect forest change from multi-temporal satellite imagery were desired for implementation by local conservation organizations cited by Hayes and Sader (2001). Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) image differencing, principal component analysis, and RGB-NDVI change detection techniques were employed in the analysis of three satellite images of the biosphere reserve. The changes were visualised. This is a typical application of remote sensing technology in deforestation

5. Wetland change: Wetlands could be monitored using remote sensing technology. Previous study by Munyati (2000) is an example. Remote sensing change detection approach was used to asses change on a section of the Kafue Flats floodplain wetland system in southern Zambia, which is under the pressures of reduced regional rainfall and damming and water abstraction by man. Four temporal satellite images were classified and analyzed. The results indicated spatial reduction in area of dense green vegetation in upstream sections of the wetland.

6. Forest fire: Data from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) have been used for the detection of fires in various ecosystems throughout the world. In this study, the most commonly used methods have been applied to a time-series of 63 AVHRR day time images for the whole of West Africa for the 1991-1992 dry seasons by Kennedy et al., 1994. The West African region includes ecosystems ranging from dry Sahara grasslands to moist tropical forests. Furthermore, these ecosystems show considerable seasonal variability. Existing methods were found to be inadequate for fire detection for the whole region because of the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of the region's environments. A number of changes were made to the established methods and the new fire detection procedure was applied to the time-series. Geographical Information System and remote sensing technology illustrates how such data can improve our knowledge of fire activity at national
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and sub-continental scales.

7. Landscape change: Landscape morphology can be simulated and monitored over a period of time. Peralta and Mather (2000) conducted a research on analysis of deforestation patterns in the extractive reserves of Acre, Amazonia from satellite imagery. Three indices of landscape structure were applied to classified satellite imagery to characterize the impact of social and economic processes on the development of the forest landscape. Lacunarity Index was used to measure landscape homogeneity, the Korcak Patchiness Index to measure the distribution of patches according to their size and the AreaPerimeter Fractal Exponent to measure change in the shape of cleared forest patches. The work reveal that the changing shape, size and spatial frequency of patches in the forest landscape showed that major changes in the forest landscape occurred between 1975 and 1989. Cushman and Wallin (2000) used Landsat satellite images to quantify the changes in the rates and patterns of the landscape in a forested area of central Sikhote-alin Mountains of the Russian Far East. Wild fire and timber harvesting were identified to be the major causative factor for the changing in rates and patterns of the landscape.

8. Environmental change, drought monitoring, flood monitoring, land slide detection

9. Other applications such as crop monitoring, shifting cultivation monitoring road segments and change in glacier mass balance

2.7.3 Overview of Change detection techniques

The selection of an appropriate change detection algorithm is very important (Jensen et al., 1993a). It will have direct impact on the type of image classification to be performed if any and also will dictate whether important from- to information can be extracted from the imagery. Most change detection works require that the change information be readily available in the forms of maps and tables. The most commonly change detection algorithm used as described by Jensen, 1993b are as follows: (i) Change detection using write function memory insertion: Individual bands of remotely sensed data are inserted into specific write function memory banks in the digital image processing system to visually identify change in the imagery as cited by Price et al. (1992) and Jensen et al. (1993b). This method is an excellence analogue method for qualitatively assessing amount of change in a region
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but it does not give quantitative information.

(ii) Multi-date composite image change detection: This change detection technique is when multiple dates of rectified remotely sensed data are placed in a single dataset for change analysis to extract change information. Thus, selected bands of two thematic mapper scene of the same region are placed in a single dataset. A traditional classification using the associated bands is performed. Unsupervised classification technique will result in the creation of change and no change clusters. These classes are then aggregated into informational classes by the analyst after carefully studies. The advantage of this change detection technique is that only a single classification is required. However, it is sometimes difficult in labelling the change classes and from-to change class information may not be available.

(iii) Image algebra change detection (band differencing or band rationing): The same band in two different images can be used in change detection either by rationing or differencing them if the images have previously been rectified to a common base map (Green et al., 1994). The subtraction results in positive and negative values in areas of radiance change. Zero values are areas that did not change within the periods. But normally these values are transformed into positive values by adding a constant. The merit of this change detection technique is that it is an efficient method of identifying pixels that have changed in brightness value between periods but it does not provide from-to change classes. It also requires careful selection of the change and no-change threshold which sometimes make it difficult for its usage.

(iv) Post-Classification comparison change detection: This method of change detection provides quantitative information. It is the most commonly used quantitative method of change detection (Jensen et al., 1993a). It involves rectification and classification of each temporal remotely sensed image. These two classified maps are then compared on a pixel by pixel basis using a change detection matrix. It provides from-to change information and there is no need for further classification. However, the accuracy of the change detection is dependent on the classification accuracy of the two classified images.

(v) Multi- date change detection using a binary mask applied to date 2: In this method, the base image which is referred to as date 1 at a time n. The date 2 image can either be an earlier image (n-1) or later image (n+1). Traditional classification of date 1 is performed. One of the bands from both dates of imagery is placed in a new dataset. The two- band dataset is then analysed using image
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algebra like band ratio, image differencing and principal components to produce a new image file. The analyst normally selects a threshold value to identify areas of change and no change in the new image. The change image is then recoded into a binary mask to depict areas that have change over the periods. This method minimised change error of omission and commission and provides from-to change information as well. The procedure however is more complicated and time consuming.

(vi) Multi-date change detection using ancillary data source as date 1: In this method, an existing land cover data source is used to replace traditional remotely sensed imagery. This data is used as date 1 but it is recoded to be compatible with the classification scheme being used. The date 2 data is also classified and the two classified data are compared on a pixel-by-pixel basis as in post classification comparison change detection. Its advantage is the use of well-known trusted data source and possibility of minimising the error of omission and commission. Detailed information on from-to cover classes can be obtained and single classification is required. The disadvantage of this method is that it is dependent on the quality of the ancillary data.

(vii) Manual, on screen digitization of change: In this method, photographic dataset are scanned at high resolutions into digital image files. These datasets are then registered to a common base map and compared to identify change. When digitised high resolution aerial photography is displayed on a screen, it can easily be analysed using standard photo interpretation techniques such as size, shape, shadow and texture. The analyst then has to visually interpret both data using heads-up on screen digitising and compare the images to detect changes. The method however is not so accurate.

(viii) Spectral change vector analysis: In this method, two spectral variables are measured and plotted for the area both before and after change occurs. The vector describes the direction and magnitude of the change within the two periods. The total change magnitude per pixel is computed by determining the Euclidean distance between end points in an n- dimensional change space. Change vector analysis outputs two geometrically registered files, one containing the sector code and the other containing the scaled vector magnitudes. The change information is superimposed onto an image of the area with change pixels been colour coded based on their sector code. The change is detected if the threshold is exceeded.

(ix) Knowledgebased vision systems for detecting change is also becoming popular of late: Novel algorithm can be used to achieve automatic detection and positioning of changes for monitoring
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systems in complex environments. The aim is to efficiently detect changes of unknown dimensions, shapes and velocity and to position them in a sequence of images. The practicality of the algorithm is simplified by the use of different decision rules in a multistage test for different purposes. These decision rules identify the changes and number of parts, as well as the position and its optimal pickup points for each individual part cited by Cheng et al. (2004). A lighting compensation method is embedded to maintain a constant lighting environment and therefore the error rate can be reduced. Experimental results on a variety of image sequences show that the proposed algorithm is effective and efficient, regardless of the irregularity and number of changes.

2.7.4 Previous work on change detection in Ghana

Some works have been done in studying Land use dynamics using different approaches and procedures in different parts of the world. In Ghana, much research has been done with the key interest on the forested land being degraded into desert. Ta (1960) and Mooney (1961) attempted to classify the forest vegetation of Ghana and their classification was based on inventories of tree forest reserves. Ademola and Vlek (2004) generated a short-term projection of land cover distribution in northern Ghana by analysing Thematic Mapper images acquired in 1984, 1992 and 1999. The work reveals that the built-up area will increase at the expense of crop-land and natural vegetation, covering about 39% of the landscape by 2006. The dominant land cover change process was the built-up area as result of an increase in demand for housing by the increasing population. Pabi (2007) researched into the process and amount of land-use/cover changes that have prevailed in specific localities across Kintampo and the neighbouring districts the within a 10-year period. The outcome of the study indicated that, in space and time, there have been significant land-use/cover changes. Variability in change was a constant, rather than occasional feature across these human dominated landscapes. The conversion and transformation processes indicated that the traditional land-use strategies are self-sustaining. Multi-temporal Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) images for 1984, 1992, and 1999 were used to map and detect land-cover changes in a 5400-km2 area within the Volta Lake basin of Ghana by Ademola and Paul (2004). Their work revealed that the most dominant land-cover change was the conversion of natural vegetation to cropland, which occurred at an annual rate of 5%. While the data suggest an increase in human pressure, reversible change in woodland and grassland occurred in 4% and 2% of the landscape, respectively. A higher proportion of reversible land-cover changes relating to fallow agriculture occurred in about 14% of the landscape, whereas a
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higher overall increase in woody biomass (10%), compared to an overall decrease of 9%, indicates a certain level of rainfall-induced resilience in the ecosystem. They recommends for further research into quantitatively evaluating the mechanisms enhancing vegetation recovery in dry land areas. The extent of the urbanized areas of Accra was assessed from Landsat-TM satellite images for the year 2002 and compared to similar information for the years 1985and 1991 by Yankson, Kofie and Jensen (2004). A texture-based classification method was applied. The results show that the

urbanization of the fringe areas of Accra is occurring at a pace that has increased from 10 km square per year for the period 1985-1991 to 25 km per year for the period 1991-2002. This development is subsequently discussed with focus on the unplanned and haphazard nature of the growth and the corresponding absence of inadequate infrastructure and service provision. Kizito (2007) examine the relationship between urbanization and flooding in Accra. As a result of the government of Ghanas implementation of the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP), massive expansion in the built-up area of Accra occurred. Beside the impact of the increased impervious surface due to urban growth, poor land tenure and land delivery system, poor garbage collection and disposal, as well as poor implementation of economic development programs, have been identified as contributors to flooding in Accra Richard Brand of the University of Rhode Island conducted a study of the spatial organization of residential areas in Accra in 1972. He argues that the city of Accra has expanded in a north-eastern direction due to the movement of the elites low-density housing developments. Brand sites this trend as beginning in the 1890s with Victoriaborg, and then extending north-eastward with the creation of the Ridge, then Cantonments, and then the Airport Residential Area. All of these neighbourhoods except for the Airport Residential Area were developed by the British colonial government as elite enclaves, with the Ridge and Cantonments being built to house the increased number of European residents who moved to Accra after World War II (and before Ghanaian independence). Growth in the north-eastern direction has been aided in recent years due to the main artery that runs through the area, Independence Avenue. Recent studies in Accra (Yankson 1997; Konadu-Agyemang 1998; Tipple et al. 1998 and Tipple 2000) focused on urban growth, infrastructure and housing. Konadu -Agyemang (1998) concluded that the rapid growth of Accras urban population has created a situation in which a wide gap exists between the needs for and the provision of housing and related infrastructure. Yankson (2000) assessed land cover change in Accra and tested the viability of Landsat Thematic mapper images for urban change detection. This study does not investigate and address the complexity of urban growth. Otto et al. (2006) quantifies the urban growth in the Accra metropolitan area and explores the causative mechanisms. All the previous researches contribute to understanding of the urban growth.
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In this research, different types and techniques for land use and land-cover change detection of Accra were evaluated. In the direct change detection method, three different image-to-image change detection techniques were evaluated. The indirect change detection was conducted using both supervised and unsupervised classified maps.

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3 STUDY AREA AND DATA DESCRIPTION

3.1 Description of the study area
Accra is the capital city of Ghana and covers an area of about 200 km. It has an estimated population of 1,970,000 million (Ghana Statistical Services, 2000). The population growth rate is estimated at 3.4 % per annum in the city itself but up to 10% in its surrounding districts. According to the Ghana Statistical Service (2000) the population of Accra has doubled between 1984 and 2000 (census taken at 18 March 1984 was 1,431,099 with that of 26 March 2000 was 2,903,753). Recent statistics indicate 43.8% urban dwellers in 2000 as against 9% in 1931. Accra alone, according to the 2000 census, represents 25% of the urban dwellers in Ghana, increasing at 4.2% per annum. Accra lies within the coastal-savannah zone with low annual rainfall averaging 810 mm distributed over less than 80 days. The rainfall pattern of the city is bimodal with the major season falling between the months of March and June, and a minor rainy season around October. Accra is the most urbanized city in Ghana. The urbanization has been mainly due to the rapid increase in population as a result of among others the urban-biased development strategies adopted by policy makers since the colonial era. There is higher concentration of industry, manufacturing, commerce and administrative functions in the Accra-Tema conurbation since independence up to date. Accra is the most cosmopolitan city in Ghana. The size of the city relative to others is matched by its comparative affluence. About half of all the motor vehicles in Ghana are located in the city. Importantly, Accra is well connected to the outside world by an international airport, as well as a modern harbour, located about 30 kilometres to the east in the neighbouring city of Tema. (Ministry of Local Government, 2006.)

3.1.1 Boundary and Administrative Area

Accra has a total land size of 200 square kilometres. Accra metropolis is bounded to west by Ga West, north by Ga East, east by Tema Municipal and to the south by the Gulf of Guinea as shown in the figure 1.

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Fig.1. Map of Ghana showing location of Accra

3.1.2 Land use and land cover types

The various land use and land cover categories in Ghana are listed below: Agricultural land which consist of shrub land, grass/herb, dense/grass fallow Forest consisting of closed forest, open forest and reverie vegetation Savannah Urban areas Bare land Water bodies Unclassified lands This classification scheme is generalized for the country. However, for a specific area of interest, local classification scheme could be employed based on the predominant land cover types available. In this research, the land cover categories established are: Closed vegetation cover Open vegetation cover

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 Dense herbaceous cover Grass Urban/ bare areas Water bodies

3.2 Potential users and stakeholders

Urban sprawl and growth information are relevant to variety of people, agencies etc. for decision making. Among these users are both government and non-governmental agencies. Some of these potential users are town and country planners, urban planners, statisticians, environmental agencies, land owners etc.

3.3 Data Collected

The Landsat data were acquired from the global land-cover website at the University of Maryland, USA. URL; http://glcfapp.umiacs.umd.edu:8080/esdi/index.jsp The images are Enhance Thematic Mapper plus image acquired on 4th February 2000 and thematic mapper image acquired on 25th December 1990 shown in figure 2 and 3 respectively. The satellite data have 30m spatial resolutions. The TM and ETM Plus images have spectral range of 0.45-2.35 micro meter with bands 1,2,3,4 and 5. Band 1 = Blue (0.45-0.52) Band 2 = Green (0.52-0.60) Band 3 = Red (0.63-0.69) Band 4 = NIR (0.76-0.90) Band 5 = SWIR (1.55-1.75) Aerial photography for 1990 and 2000, which was used as the ground truth data for the accuracy assessment Topographic map at a scale of 1:10000 These data were acquired from the Survey Department, Accra, Ghana. Existing classified Land use maps from Centre for Remote Sensing&GIS, Dept. of Geography, Legon,Ghana.

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Fig.2. Satellite image of Accra acquired on 25th December, 1990

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Fig.3. Satellite image of Accra acquired on 4th Feb. 2000

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4 METHODOLOGY FOR LAND USE/LAND COVER CHANGE DETECTION

4.1 Flow chart for the methods employed

Fig.4. Flow chart for methodology employed in digital change detection

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In order to detect areas that have changed as a result of the expansion of the urban fringe, the procedures as shown in the flow chart were followed. The first thing to consider is the processing of the remotely sensed data to extract change information. Basically, the main processes involve are pre-processing (geometric registration and radiometric correction), followed by image classification, change detection and finally assessing the statistical accuracies of the classification in change detection process.

4.2 Pre-processing of the multiple date remotely sensed data:

Pre-processing of satellite images prior to image classification and change detection is essential. Due to spatial, spectral and temporal radiometric resolution constraints, the complexity of physical environment cannot be accurately recorded by normal remote sensing sensors. As a result, it is necessary to pre-process the remotely sensed data before the analysis. Pre-processing commonly comprises a series of sequential operations, including atmospheric correction or normalization of image, masking etc. The normalization of satellite imagery takes into account the combined, measurable reflectance of the atmosphere, aerosol scattering and absorption, and the earths surface. Because satellite data are acquired at different dates and time, there is the need for the images two be normalised as if they were taken at the same time. Geometric correction will remove the problem of different coordinates system of the respective images. Band screening was conducted to detect bias. Three bands namely 4, 3, 2 were selected from each image as they were found to have good correlation. In the image to image registration, the 1990 TM image was made the reference image and the 2000 ETM image was registered to the ETM image. This was done by locating identifiable points on both images and saving their coordinates in a text editor which was used as a correspondence file. Nearest neighbour re-sampling technique was employed because the output values are the original input values and it is easy to compute. The root mean square error was 0.399, which represents 12 metres on ground.

4.3 Image classification

In order to make use of the multitude of digital data available from satellite imagery, it must be processed. This processing involves categorizing the land into its various use functions. Classification techniques are widely used for Land use/Land-cover mapping and can be used as source of information for many different applications. The multi-spectral classification can

be performed by application of varieties of methods which includes: (i) Algorithm based on parametric and non-parametric statistics that uses ratio and interval- scaled data and non-metric methods that can also incorporate nominal scale data (Duda et al. 2001), (ii) The use of supervised and unsupervised classification logic, (iii)The use of hard or soft set classification logic to create hard or fuzzy thematic output products, (iv) The use of object oriented logic and (v) Hybrid classification approaches which combines two or three methods In the parametric method approach of classification, such as unsupervised clustering and maximum likelihood, there is assumption that the remotely sensed data is normally distributed and knowledge about the forms of the underlying class density functions are known( Duda et al.,2001). Non parametric methods such as fuzzy classifier, neural networks and nearestneighbour classifiers are used for remotely sensed data that are not uniformly distributed and without the assumption that the underlying forms are known (Jensen ,2004; Liu et al., 2002). Non- metric methods such as ruled-based decisions tree classifiers can be used on both real value data such as reflectance values ranging from 0 to 100% and nominal scaled data (Jensen, 2004). Supervised classification requires the manual identification of known land cover/land use types within the imagery and then using statistical functions to determine the spectral signature of the identified feature. The spectral fingerprints of the identified features are then used to classify the rest of the image. In unsupervised classification, the user has to make decisions on which categories can be grouped together into a single land use category. Both supervised and unsupervised classifications were performed. The unsupervised classification has the following advantages: There is no need to have previous knowledge of the image in order to get a classified image. Hence, the classification procedure is faster as it does not utilize the training data as the basis for classification. The identification of classes of interest against reference data is often more easily carried out when the spatial distribution of spectrally similar pixels has been established in the image data. No extensive prior knowledge of the region required.
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 The opportunity for human error is minimised in this classification unlike supervised classification whereby mistakes in digitizing the training areas can affect the process. Image signatures are derived based on image statistics (Lillesand, 2004). By comparing to supervised classification, the decision functions for unsupervised classification is not biased by previous knowledge or estimates of class membership Unsupervised classification requires very few inputs into the classification processes. Unique classes are recognised as distinct units. In contrast to the a priori use of analyst-provided information in supervised classification; unsupervised classification is a segmentation of the data space in the absence of any information provided by any analyst. Analyst information is used only to attach information class (or ground cover type, or map) labels to the segments established by clustering. Clearly this is an advantage of the approach. In this classification process, natural groups of pixels based on their spectral properties are selected by the software. However, this process still requires user interaction once the classification has been performed. The advantages of the supervised classification are: It is more accurate than unsupervised because the analyst has the possibility to train the classes It provides informative classes unlike clustering Bias decision function can be created by the analyst Image signatures are derived based on the training areas which are true representative of the classes

4.3.1 Unsupervised classification

Unsupervised classification was used to cluster pixels in a data set without any user-defined training classes. Although the method requires no user input to create the classified image, the output tends to require a great deal of post classification operations to make the results more meaningful. The Iterative Self-Organizing Data Analysis Technique (ISODATA) clustering algorithm was used. It uses the minimum spectral distance formula to form clusters. It begins with either arbitrary cluster means or means of an existing signature set, and each time the clustering repeats, the means of these clusters are shifted. The new cluster means are used for the next iteration. The ISODATA utility repeats the clustering of the image until either a maximum number of iterations have been performed, or a maximum percentage of unchanged pixels have been reached between two iterations. The ISODATA clustering algorithm (Tou &
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Gonzalez., 1974; ERDAS, 1997) compares the radiometric value of each pixel with predefined number of cluster attractors, aggregat es pixels in clust ers and shift s t he cluster mean values in a way that the majority of the former aggregated pixels belongs to a cluster. The ISODATA algorithm has some further refinements by splitting and merging of clusters (Jensen, 1996). Clusters are merged if either the number of members (pixel) in a cluster is less than a certain threshold or if the centres of two clusters are closer than a certain threshold. Clusters are split into two different clusters if the cluster standard deviation exceeds a predefined value and the number of members (pixels) is twice the threshold for the minimum number of members. The ISODATA algorithm is similar to the k-means algorithm with the distinct difference that the ISODATA algorithm allows for different number of clusters while the k-means assumes that the number of clusters is known a priori. Performing an unsupervised classification is simpler than a supervised classification, because the signatures are automatically generated by the ISODATA algorithm.

4.3.1.1 Clustering to detect the land use classes

In clustering, the pixels were grouped into classes based on similar spectral characteristics. This was achieved using isoclust, the implementation of the ISODATA algorithm in IDRISI, to detect clusters of pixels that have similar spectral characteristics. The ISODATA method does not need any ground truth. It analyses the images and organizes the pixels into clusters with similar characteristics without consideration of what these pixels represent in reality. Here it is assumed that pixels with similar characteristics represent the same land-use. It is very likely that the same land-use type can be represented with several clusters.

4.3.1.2 Aggregation of clusters

The clustering procedure is just grouping of pixels of similar spectral characteristics. In order to get informational classes, the clusters were grouped. Vector files with ground-truth data were used to detect which land-use classes the different clusters that have been created by Isoclust belong to. The images were reclassified to create a land-use map for 1990 and 2000 respectively.

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4.3.2 Supervised Classification

This is a procedure for identifying spectrally similar areas on an image by identifying training sites of known targets and then extrapolating those spectral signatures to other areas of unknown target. In supervised classification, the identity and location of some of the land-cover types are known a priori through a combination of fieldwork, interpretation of aerial photography, map analysis and personal experience (Hodgson et al., 2003). Training areas, usually small and discrete compared to the full image, are used to train the classification algorithm to recognize land cover classes based on their spectral signatures, as found in the image. The training areas for any one land cover class need to fully represent the variability of that class within the image. There are numerous factors that can affect the training signatures of the land cover classes. Environmental factors such as differences in soil type, varying soil moisture, and health of vegetation, can affect the signature and affect the accuracy of the final thematic map. It is really important to choose a desirable classification scheme and algorithm. The Maximum likelihood classifier algorithm was chosen for this study as it proved to give better results as compare to the other supervised techniques tried.

4.3.2.1 Training Sites Development

A training area is a small sample of homogeneous areas selected by the image analyst prior to classification. These areas were determined from maps and ortho-photos, topographical maps and other ancillary information (e.g. land use database). Training sites were free of anomalies and large enough to provide good statistical representation. Also, there were sufficient numbers of sites selected for each class to account for small local variations within the class. Edge pixels containing the combined backscatter of multiple targets (mixed pixels) were avoided. The objective of training data is to obtain a set of statistics that describe the spectral pattern for each land-use/land-cover category to be classified. These sets of statistics are used to determine decision rules for the classification of each pixel in an image. The training site were representative of their respective classes, including the variation within the class itself and the training data should closely fit the distribution assumptions, on which the decision rules are based (Campbell, 2002). Sample pixels representing each of the land cover categories were selected through digitizing. Polygons (training sites) belonging to the same land cover category were given the same ID. In total, there were adequate sample of pixels for
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each cover type for statistical characterization. The number of pixels selected for each landcover or land-use category in the training is shown in table 1 below.

Table1: Number of pixel selected in each land-cover category for training

Land Category

Cover TM1990 image ETM 2000 image

Closed veg. cover Open veg. cover Dense herb cover Grass/herb Urban/bare land Water bodies

1209 2831 4479 475 6432 4673

1179 3457 4231 357 7899 4923

4.3.2.2 Signature Development

Signature files which contain statistical information about the reflectance values of the pixels within the training sites for each class were created. The statistical analysis for the reflectance values of the trained areas selected was examined to avoid significant loss of recognition accuracy. The classes signatures examine were maximum, minimum, and mean values as well as a class covariance matrix. Histogram plots for the class signatures were also examined. Finally a scatter plot for the entire data set was also generated. These signatures were used to assess the performance of the trained areas before classification. The training site polygons were defined as a vector file of polygons. The vector file was converted to a raster image during the development. This vector file was created using the onscreen digitizing feature of the display system. With either raster or vector, training site classes are indicated by integer codes. Scatter plot and signature comparison chart were generated to visually analyse the quality of the training sites.

4.3.2.3 Maximum Likelihood Classifier

This is a statistical decision rule that examines the probability function of a pixel for each of the classes, and assigns the pixel to the class with the highest probability.
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The classifier assumes that the training statistics for each class have a normal or 'Gaussian' distribution. However many are not, radar statistics in particular. The classifier then uses the training statistics to compute a probability value of whether it belongs to a particular land cover category class. This allows for within-class spectral variance. Equal probabilities were assigned to each of the land-cover classes to weight the probability function. This classification technique usually provides the highest classification accuracies. Accordingly, it has a high computational requirement because of the large number of calculations needed to classify each pixel.

4.3.2.4 Classification accuracy assessment

This defines the extent to which a manual or automatic processing system correctly identifies selected classes. This process evaluates the accurateness of a derived thematic map. There are two main methods normally used to validate the accuracy (or assess the error) of a remote sensing-derived thematic map namely: Qualitative confidence-building assessment Statistical measurements.

In confidence-building assessment accuracy assessment, visual examination of the map associated with the overall area frame is done by knowledgeable individuals to identify any gross errors. However, this method is not good for quantitative purposes. Statistical measurements however can quantify the errors using reference data. They are two sub categories: Model-based inference, and Design-based inference.

Model-based inference is concerned with estimating the error of remote sensing classification process (or model) that generated the map rather than estimating the accuracy. The designbased inference is based on statistical principles that infer the statistical characteristics of a finite population based on the sampling frame. Some common statistical measurements include producers error, consumers error, overall accuracy, and kappa coefficient of agreement (Jensen, 2004). In this research, the design based inference was used as a sample of the total population was used in determining the accuracy of the classification processes. Using the ortho-photos a reference data, sample pixels representing each of the land-cover categories were digitised and compare to the created thematic maps. The overall accuracy expresses the total accuracy of the whole classification process. It is defined as a fraction of
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the total of the diagonal matrix and the total no of cells. However, it is express as a percentage. Pixels of known class which are incorrectly classified as other classes are known as error of omission. Pixels which are incorrectly classified as a given class when they should be some other known class are known as error of commission. When the correctly classified pixel in each class is divided by column totals, producers accuracy is obtained.

4.3.3 Post classification comparison change detection

To minimise phonological effects of remotely-sensed data, the post-classification comparison method was employed for image processing, as this method is less sensitive to radiometric variations between the scenes (Mas 1999). The supervised classified maps were used because of its higher accuracy as compare to the unsupervised maps. Digital change detection techniques aim to detect changes in images over a period of time. Change detection techniques rely upon differences in radiance values between two or more dates. Unfortunately, few quantitative comparative studies of change detection techniques are available. There is no universally 'optimal' change detection technique. The choice is dependent upon the application. The selection of an appropriate change detection algorithm is very important. Most change-detection projects require that the from-to information be readily available in the form of maps and tabular summaries. Post-classification change detection was chosen because: It produces a transition matrix. This matrix describes each pixel if it has changed and if it has, from which class to what. This change information is valuable for analyses and for planning purposes. There is no need for radiometric normalization of the images use in the analysis Sensitive to the spectral variations It provides from-to change information. One major drawback of this method of change detection is that the accuracy is dependent on the accuracy of individual classification results and it is also quite time consuming. The Land cover change detection scheme used in current study was chosen by considering local condition, classes of interest and availability of reference ground truth data material available

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4.3.3.1 Detecting from-to change using Cross Classification and Tabulation

In order to have insight into which land cover category is converted into the other both cross classification and tabulation operations were performed. The cross classification gives visual information about the transformation of each land cover category by clicking on the legend. With the cross-classification operation, it is possible to visualize the change of one cover category to the other within the two periods. There are 36 from to different categories for the 6 different classes. This matrix describes each pixel if it has changed and if it has, from which class to what. This change information is significant for analyses and for planning purposes. Some of the land cover classes have higher tendency of transforming to the other and vice versa. Vegetations have higher tendency to transform into urban areas but the probability for urban areas and water to change to other classes were considered to have less probability.

4.3.3.2 Detecting and Visualization of change in urban areas by colour coding

In order to depict the areas that have changed as a result of expansion of the urban areas, the various land-cover categories in 1990 that transformed into urban areas in 2000 from the cross classification were colour coded red (red). The areas that did not change into any other land cover categories were colour coded to their respective cover classes with the same colours as the classified map.

4.3.3.3 Change Map

Cross tabulation analysis was performed using the two classified maps. The resulting 36 from-to classes were re-classified into change and no change map. Land cover classes that have no change were separated from those which have change by comparing the two thematic layers. The non-change areas are the diagonal elements in the cross-tabulation. The procedure yields 7 different classes, namely Non-Change area Change in closed vegetation cover Change in open vegetation cover Change in dense herbaceous cover

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 Change in grassland Change in Urban/ bare areas Change in water bodies The non-change areas are predominantly urban and water bodies respectively while the vegetations were transformed to urban areas.

4.3.3.4 Change detection accuracy

The accuracy of remotely sensed map is traditionally assessed by comparing a sample of the map data with actual ground conditions typically by generating an error matrix. This approach is useful for both visualizing image classification results and more importantly for statistically measuring the results. One of the most common means of expressing classification accuracy is the preparation of a classification error matrix also called confusion matrix. The accuracy of change detection analysis outputs depend on the following conditions: Low RMS error of geometric registration of two-date images High quality of ground truth data and field investigation information The selection of change detection methods or algorithms Proper knowledge of the study area Proper multi-date image classification scheme Analyst effort and experience. The accuracy of the change detection process depends on the accuracy of the two-date image classifications when using post-classification change detection. The change detection statistics shows the change of each land- cover category. The main disadvantage of this method is that the accuracy is dependent on the individual image classification. The change detection accuracy is discussed in the results and discussions. However the overall accuracy of the individual classified images was good so the expected error in the change detection was minimal.

4.4 Image Differencing

Image differencing is probably the most widely applied change detection algorithm (Singh, 1989). It involves subtracting one date of imagery from a second date that has been precisely registered to the first. According to recent research, image differencing appears to perform generally better than other methods of change detection (Coppin & Bauer, 1996). It is possible to identify the amount of change between two rectified images by image differencing (Green et al., 1994; Maas,
33

1999; Song et al., 2001; Jensen, 2004). If the two images have almost identical radiometric characteristics, the subtraction results in positive and negative values in areas of radiance change and zero values are areas of no change (Jensen, 2004). The difference between two images is calculated by finding the difference between each pixel in each image, and generating an image based on the result. Radiometric normalisation is

necessary when the change detection is based on linear transformation of the data. But, if the change map is to be derived from classified images, or if the change detection is based on a multiple-date composite imagery the radiometric normalisation is unnecessary. Here the relative normalisation is used in image-to-image comparison. (Chen et al., 2005).

4.4.1 Radiometric normalisation

The radiometric consistency is difficult to maintain, since the radiation measured by the sensor is influenced by factors such as solar angle, atmospheric conditions, instrument characteristics, etc. The radiometric correction can either be absolute or relative. The absolute correction aims to extract absolute reflectance of the object at the scene. The relative aims to reduce variation among multiple images by adjusting the target image to match the base image. In-situ measurements, done during the overpass of the satellite, relate the reflectance values to the real ones. They can also be used for computing the atmospheric effect. When the base image represents the absolute values, the target images can be matched to it. If there are no in-situ measurements to use for radiometric correction, the two images are assumed to have a linear radiometric relationship and that can be established with the help of radiometric ground control points. These so called pseudo-invariant features are targets that change radiometric very little over time, e.g. bare soil or non-turbid water. Then the difference in the reflectance in these points in the different images describes the radiometric effect and enables the normalisation. Radiometric normalisation is necessary when the change detection is based on linear transformation of the data. But, if the change map is to be derived from classified images, or if the change detection is based on a multiple-date composite imagery the radiometric normalisation is unnecessary. Here the relative normalisation is used in image-toimage comparison. (Chen et al., 2005). Regression equations for the various satellite data bands in the two images used in the analysis were generated and analysed. The regression equations generated were used to normalise the new images using the old ones as a reference. Details of the results are shown in

34

the results and discussions chapter.

4.4.2 Image Enhancement

Image enhancement methods provide important information that could be otherwise missed and there are several ways of extracting such information e.g. edges, texture and high and low frequency components. There different methods to transform remotely sensed data into information that is correlated to real-world phenomena. The following image enhancement methods were employed in the research: Vegetation Index Principal Component Analysis TassledCap transformation Details of these procedures are highlighted in the subsequent sub-chapters.

4.4.3 Image-to-image comparison (Differencing)

Change detection on non-classified images is performed with three approaches, namely image differencing, multiple-date composite image change detection, change vector analysis. Values between one and two standard deviations from mean have shown to work well and the threshold values in this research are tested and set for each change image separately. In this research, the first method was chosen in analysing the changes in the images. Three different methods within this category used are: Normalised Difference Vegetation Index Differencing the second principal component of the separate images (PCA c2) Tasselled Cap transformation differencing

4.4.3.1 Normalised Difference Vegetation Index Assessing the type, extent, and condition of vegetation over a region is a primary goal of land use investigations. Researchers use data from Landsat and other environmental satellites to determine the number of acres of certain crop types in a region, locate vegetation that is heavily impacted by natural or man-made stresses such as pests, fire, disease, and pollution, and to delimit boundaries between such areas as wetlands or old growth forest. Such sets of
35

data, taken over time intervals and compared, can also help us understand how vegetation changes over time. Satellite data can be used to detect vegetative change from one growing season to the next, from year to year, or from decade to decade. These types of data help us better understand the ecology of our planet and will perhaps help us understand the impact of mankind on our natural biological cycles. A vegetative index is a value that is calculated (or derived) from sets of remotely-sensed data that is used to quantify the vegetative cover on the Earth's surface. Though many vegetative indices exist, the most widely used index is the Normalized Difference Vegetative Index (NDVI). The NDVI, like most other vegetative indices, is calculated as a ratio between measured reflectivity in the red and near infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. These two spectral bands are chosen because they are most affected by the absorption of chlorophyll in leafy green vegetation and by the density of green vegetation on the surface. Also, in red and near-infrared bands, the contrast between vegetation and soil is at a maximum. These two spectral bands are chosen because they are most affected by the absorption of chlorophyll in leafy green vegetation and by the density of green vegetation on the surface. Also, in red and near-infrared bands, the contrast between vegetation and soil is at a maximum. The NDVI is a type of product known as a transformation, which is created by transforming raw image data into an entirely new image using mathematical formulas (or algorithms) to calculate the colour value of each pixel. This type of product is especially useful in multi-spectral remote sensing since transformations can be created that highlight relationships and differences in spectral intensity across multiple bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. In the research, NDVI were generated for the two images to compare the changes in the vegetation as a result of evolution of urban areas. The result for the NDVI analysis is discussed in the results and discussions chapter.

4.4.3.2 Principal Component Analysis

The second component differencing from principal component analysis, was chosen because the second component is correlated to the visible spectrum (Table 2). The first band is highly correlated to all the three components. The second component shows higher correlation to the visible spectra. PCA undertakes a Principal Components Analysis on a set of image bands and produces a new set of images -- components that are uncorrelated with each other and explain progressively less of the variance found in the original set of bands. The technique is used for data compression since the first two or three components explain 95 to 99 percent of the variance in the original set of bands. In cases like this, the components explaining less than a certain percent of the variance can be dropped. It is also useful in the analysis of time series
36

data. Both un-standardized and standardized principal components analysis are offered. In the standardized case, the correlation matrix is used for input rather than the usual variance/covariance matrix. Table 2: Correlation between the bands and principal components Component XS1 1 2 3 0.832 0.954 0.953 1990 XS2 -0.555 0.240 0.244 XS3 0.001 -0.181 0.180 XS1 0.869 0.981 0.932 2000 XS2 -0.493 0.112 0.342 XS3 0.049 -0.160 0.123

The first band is highly correlated to all the three components. The second component shows higher correlation to the visible spectra.

4.4.3.3 Tasselled Cap transformations (TASSCAP)

TASSCAP undertakes a "Kauth and Thomas" tasseled cap 4-dimensional transformation on 4 bands of MSS or 6 bands of TM data (excluding the thermal band) using the Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization process to extract three or four new index bands. If TM imagery is used, the bands produced are Brightness, Greenness and Moistness. If MSS imagery are used, the bands produced are Greenness, Yellowness, Brightness and No-such. The brightness image of TM refers to soil brightness, while that of MSS refers to soil brightness and moisture. The Greenness bands, sometimes referred to as Green Vegetation Index or GVI, highlights green vegetation cover or biomass above ground. The yellowness or Yellow Vegetation Index (YVI) of MSS contains information on vegetation that is decaying or drying out. The No-such image is associated with atmospheric noise. The moistness represents the water content of the land. From the results, it was found out that the brightness layer produced is good for detecting changes in urban/bare areas as they have higher values. The greenness however is a good representation of the vegetation count and such was used in detecting change in vegetation. This method was chosen because it has the capability to detect the changes in urban/bare areas, vegetation and water bodies. Urban areas have higher brightness values, vegetation has higher greenness value and water bodies have higher moistness. Details of the results are shown and discussed in the next chapter.

37

5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

5.1 Unsupervised classification
5.1.1 Clustering
The clustering procedure generated 30 clusters as shown in figures 5 and 6 for 1990 and 2000 images, respectively.

Fig.5. Clustering of 1990 image

Fig.6. Clustering of 2000 image

5.1.2 Aggregation of clusters

Informational classes were obtained from the spectral classes after grouping of clusters with similar spectral characteristics. The images were reclassified to create a land-use map for 1990 and 2000 respectively as shown in figures 7 and 8 respectively.

Fig.7: Land use map of Accra, 1990 from unsupervised classification

39

Fig.8. Land use map of Accra, 2000 from unsupervised classification

40

5.2 Supervised classification

Fig.9: Land use map of Accra, 1990 from supervised classification

41

Fig.10: Land use map of Accra, 2000 from supervised classification

5.3 Classification accuracy assessment

The results for classification accuracy for the classified maps are shown in the tables 3,4,5 and 6 for unsupervised classified maps (1990 and 2000) and supervised classified maps (1990 and 2000) respectively. Sample points from the ortho-photos were used as reference data. Areas depicting the various land covers were screen digitized from aerial photography for 1990 and 2000, which was used as the ground truth data for the accuracy assessment. The off- diagonal elements represent the pixels which were misclassified. The overall accuracy expresses the total accuracy of the whole classification process. It is defined as a fraction of the total of the diagonal matrix and the total no of cells. However, it is expressed as a percentage. When the correctly classified pixel in each class is divided by the column totals, producers accuracy is obtained. When the number of correctly classified pixel in each class is divided by the row total, the users accuracy is obtained.
42

Producers Accuracy = (Number of pixels correctly classified / Reference total)* 100. It is a measure of how accurate a class can be classified in an image. Users Accuracy = (Number of pixels correctly classified / Classified total)* 100. It measures the confidence of a class in a classified image. Overall Accuracy = Total number of pixels correctly classified / (Total Reference or Total classified)* 100. It is a combination of producers and users accuracies. Tables7 and 8 represents the computed users and producers accuracies. Table 3: Error matrix for 1990 land use map of Accra (Unsupervised)
Land use Closed or cover veg. class cover Closed veg. Cover Open veg. Cover Dense herb. Cover Grass/ herb 158 Open veg. Cover 13 Dense herbaceo us cover 15 Grass/ herb 5 Urban areas 13 Water Total

Error of comm. (%)

22.54

204

161

21

12

205

26.67

39

253

18

331

23.56

15

120

19

165

27.27

Urban areas

35

27

386

463

16.63

Water

13

267

290

7.93

Total

177

259

337

135

461

289

1658

Error of 10.73 omiss(%)

37.84

24.93

11.11

16.27

7.61

Columns represent the truth and rows represent mapped Kappa coefficient = 0.752
43

Table 4: Error matrix for 2000 land use map of Accra (Unsupervised) Land cover type Closed Veg. Cover Open Veg. Cover Dense herb. Cover Grass/ Herb Close veg. cover 176 Open veg. cover 12 Dense herb. Cover 13 Grass/ herb Urban/ bare areas 7 Water bodies Total Error of comm. (%)
19.89

211

220

14

15

260

18.18

24

311

35

383

23.15

67

85

26.87

Urban/ bare areas Water Bodies

10

15

21

283

11

343

21.20

280

299

6.79

Total

198

277

373

86

352

295

1581

Error of ommi ssion(%) 11.11

20.58

16.62

22.09

19.60

5.08

Columns represent the truth and rows represent mapped. Kappa coefficient =0.723

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Table 5: Error matrix for 1990 land use map of Accra (Supervised)
Land Closed use or veg. cover cover class Closed veg. cover Open veg. cover Dense herb. Cover Grass/ herb 149 Open veg. Cover Dense Grass/ herbaceo herb us cover Urban areas Water Total

Error of comm. (%)

16.61

13

173

185

13

218

17.84

12

255

17

11

304

19.22

96

114

18.75

Urban areas

12

15

234

11

275

17.52

Water Total

0 159

6 233

3 299

0 112

6 272

268 292

283 1367

5.60

Error of 6.71 omissio n(%)

25.95

17.25

14.29

16.24

8.96

Columns represent the truth and rows represent mapped Kappa coefficient = 0.773

45

Table 6: Error matrix for 2000 land use map of Accra (Supervised)
Land Closed use or veg. cover cover class Closed veg. Cover Open veg. Cover Dense herb. Cover Grass/ herb 73 Open veg. Cover Dense Grass/ herbaceo herb us cover Urban areas Water Total

Error of comm. (%)

12.33

82

189

13

217

14.81

17

203

23

246

21.18

85

102

20.00

Urban areas

13

13

268

307

14.55

Water Total

0 83

3 233

0 237

4 99

13 313

245 254

265 1219

7.55

Error of 12.05 omissio n(%)

23.28

14.35

14.14

14.38

3.54

Columns represent the truth and rows represent mapped Kappa coefficient = 0.752

46

Table 7: Producers and users accuracy in percentage for unsupervised classification

Land Category

Use
Producer's Accuracy 1990 89.27 Producer's Accuracy 2000 88.89 User's 1990 77.6 Accuracy User's 2000 80.11 Accuracy

Closed Veg. Open Veg.

62.16

79.42 83.38 77.91 80.40 94.92

73.33 76.44 72.73 83.37 92.07

81.82 76.85 73.13 78.80 93.21

Dense Herb. Grass Urban areas Water

75.07 88.89 83.73 92.39

Overall accuracy, 1990= (81.12%) Overall accuracy, 2000= (84.57%) Table 8: Producers and users accuracy in percentage for supervised classification

Land Category Closed Veg. Open Veg.

Use
Producer's Accuracy 1990 93.29 74.05 82.75 85.71 83.76 91.040 Producer's Accuracy 2000 87.95 76.72 85.65 85.86 85.62 96.46 User's 1990 83.39 82.16 80.78 81.25 82.48 92.40 Accuracy User's 2000 87.67 85.19 78.82 80.00 85.45 92.45 Accuracy

Dense Herb. Grass Urban areas Water

Overall accuracy, 1990= (86.83%) Overall accuracy, 2000= (87.42%)

47

5.4 Post-classification comparison using supervised classification

The overall accuracy for the supervised classification was higher than that of the unsupervised classification. As a result, the supervised classified maps were used in the post- classification comparison. The cross tabulation gives visual information about the transformation of each land cover category into other as shown in fig 11. The tabulation quantifies the changes as shown in tables 9. The numbers 1, 2,3,4,5 and 6 represent the six land cover categories respectively. From the legend, it is obvious to notice the transformation of each cover class into another.

Fig.11. Cross classification image for transition from 1990 to 2000

It is possible to visually see the change of one cover category to the other within the two periods. In the process, it was revealed that most of the changes in the urban areas are resulted from transformation of open vegetation and dense herbaceous cover (49 %). Fig.12 demonstrates the evolution of urban areas from the above- mentioned land cover categories. The 36 classes from cross classification were re-classified into two classes by colour coding (1, 2). Class one (red), represents the transformation of open vegetation and dense herbaceous areas into urban areas (2-5 and 3-5) as shown in the legend. Class two is represented by black which is the combination of all other land cover transformations.

48

Table 9: Cross tabulation results for classified images, 1990 and 2000 (Column classification 1990 and Row classification 2000) Land class use Closed Open Dense Grass/ Urban areas Water Total

vegetation vegetation herbaceous herbs cover cover 109 (0.03%) 67806 (19.41%) 215232 (61.62%) 2083 (0.60%) 64038 (18.33%) 34 (0.01%) 349302 cover 399 (0.11%) 787 (0.21%) 262875 (70.03%) 13618 (3.63%) 97564 (25.99%) 119 (0.03%) 375362 4 (0.01%) 13 (0.03%) 133 (0.26%) 47304

Closed vegetation cover Open vegetation cover

40041 (42.87%) 46873 (50.18%)

94 (0.03%) 125 (0.04%) 869 (0.31%) 62

69 (0.02%) 9906 (2.34%) 3999 (0.95%) 221 (0.05%) 2258

40716

125510

Dense herb 3849 cover (4.12%) Grass and 1186 herbs (1.27%) Urban areas (1.47%) Water 81 (0.09%) Total 93405 1375

483108

64474

(92.16%) (0.02%) 3870 (7.54%) 6 (0.01%) 51330 280139

449244

(99.36%) (0.53%) 657 (0.23%) 281946 406194 (96.11%) 422647 1573992 407091

Overall kappa=0.718

49

Fig.12. Transformation of vegetation covers into urban areas

From the cross tabulation table, it is possible to calculate the percentage of each landcover/land-use type that was transformed into the other. Each class is discussed in the general analysis. The percentage change of each land-cover/land-use category is shown in the table 10 below.

50

Table 10: Change of the land-cover/land-use types from 1990 to 2000 expressed in percentage (Area counted as number of cells)

LAND COVER CLASS Closed vegetation cover Open vegetation cover Dense herbaceous cover

AREA, 1990

AREA 2000

CHANGE/ % DIFFERE NCE CHANGE

93405

40716

-52689

56.40

349302

125510

-223792

64.07

375362

483108

107746

28.70

Grass/herb 51330

64474

13144

25.61

Urban and 281946 bare areas Water bodies 422647

449244

167298

59.34

407091

-15556

3.68

5.4.1 Detecting and Visualization of from-to changes by colour coding

The brown colour represents the urban area in 1990 and the red colour represents the area that changed as result of expansion of the urban fringe. The transformation of each land cover category into urban areas (legend) is highlighted in red as shown in figure 13. Postclassification change detection is largely dependent on classification accuracy of individual images. The classification errors contributed a significant amount of noise in change detection. The seasonal difference of the two satellite images used in the analysis influenced the change detection accuracy. This is because the seasonal variation may affect the
51

reflectance level of the same land cover category which may subsequently be mis-classified as a different land cover category.

Fig.13. Change in urban areas from 1990 to 2000

In figure 13, the areas that did not change into any other land cover categories were colour coded to their respective cover classes with the same colours as in figures 9 and 10. As shown in the legend, the transformation from each cover class to the other is colour coded. The labels; closed vegetation cover, open vegetation, dense herbaceous cover, urban and water in the legend represent the no-change areas and the remaining labels are the transformations. By visual inspection of the colour codes, it is possible to see the change areas in any of the land
52

cover categories. The red colour was used to show the transformation of each cover class into urban areas.

5.4.2 Change/Non-Change map

Fig 14: Change/Non-Change map

5.4.3 Change detection accuracy assessment

Change detection presents unique problems for accuracy assessment because it is difficult to sample areas that will change in the future prior to the change (Congalton and Green, 1993). Position and attribute errors are normally likely to propagate in the change detection analysis. The simplest method for accuracy assessment of the change map is to multiply the individual
53

classification map accuracies to have a prior knowledge of the expected change detection accuracy (Yuan et al., 1998). A more reliable and rigorous approach is to randomly sample areas classified as non-change and change and determining whether or not they were correctly classified (Fuller et al., 2003) Random areas representing change and non-change areas in the change map created were selected to perform the change detection accuracy. Randomly sample areas in the change/nonchange map were selected by making sure that they were distributed throughout the map for the change detection accuracy. Caution was taken to minimised choosing pixels on the boundaries of change area. Each sample point was compared to the reference data to confirm if the change had actually occurred. The error matrix obtained as shown in table 11 was used to compute the accuracies. The seasonal difference of the two satellite images used in the analysis influenced the change detection accuracy. This is because the seasonal variation may affect the reflectance level of the pixels which belongs to the same land cover type which may subsequently be mix-classified as a different land cover category. The error matrix for the change detection was used to compute for the overall change detection accuracy as shown in table 12.

54

Table11: Error matrix analysis of from-to change

Land cover type No Change

No Change

Closed Veg.

Open Veg.

Dense Herb

Grass

Urban/b are

Water

Total

11422

24

557

736

13

613

26

13391

Closed Veg.

54

768

29

31

24

910

Open Veg.

320

106

1645

206

23

123

13

2436

Dense Herb.

578

89

184

2458

78

168

3555

Grass

54

21

11

43

459

31

619

Urban/b are

631

78

65

229

61

2891

16

3971

Water

42

12

26

1185

1268

13101 Total

1086

2494

3565

638

3876

1240

26150

Column represent: Test data, Row represent: Reference data The off- diagonal elements represent the pixels which were wrongly detected. The overall accuracy expresses the total accuracy of the whole change detection process. It is defined as a
55

fraction of the total of the diagonal matrix and the total no of cells. However, it is expressed as a percentage. When the correctly detected pixel in each class is divided by the column totals, producers accuracy is obtained. When the number of correctly detected pixel in each class is divided by the row total, the users accuracy is obtained. Producers Accuracy = (Number of pixels correctly detected / Reference total)* 100. It is a measure of how accurate a class can be classified in an image. Users Accuracy = (Number of pixels correctly detected / Classified total)* 100. It measures the confidence of a class in a classified image. Overall Accuracy = Total number of pixels correctly detected / (Total Reference)* 100. It is a combination of producers and users accuracies.

Table 12: Producers and Users accuracies of the from-to change

Producers Accuracy No Change Change Vegetation Change in Open Vegetation Change Cover Change in Grass/herb Change in Urban/bare land Change in Water 71.94 72.8 91.86 in Dense 65.96 in 78.99 Closed 70.72

Users accuracy 76.26 74.39

67.53 69.11

herb. 68.92

72.14 72.80 90.45

Kappa coefficient =0.698 Overall accuracy =74.63%

5.5 Image Differencing

Three different methods within this category used are: Normalised Difference Vegetation Index Differencing the second principal component of the separate images (PCA c2) Tasselled Cap transformation differencing

56

5.5.1 Radiometric Normalisation

Linear regression equations for the bands in the two images used in the analysis were generated and analysed. The equations were generated using PCI Geomatics software. The bands used in the analysis are bands 4, 3 and 2. The old bands (1990 image) were labelled 1, 2 and 3 respectively and the new bands (2000 image) were labelled 4, 5 and 6 respectively. The old bands were used as independent variables and the new bands were used as dependent variables. Pseudo-invariant features in the images such as bare soil or non-turbid water were selected for generating the normalisation equations. The equations generated and the scatter plots are shown in figures 15, 16 and 17 respectively.

Fig. 15: Scatter plot for band 2

57

Fig. 16: Scatter plot for band 3

Fig. 17: Scatter plot for band 4

58

The linear regression equations were used to normalise the dependent bands by using image calculator in idrisi32. The normalised bands were then converted to bytes before the combinations. The various image-to-image comparisons used in the research are: Normalised Difference Vegetation Index Differencing the second principal component of the separate images (PCA c2) Tasselled cap transformation differencing

5.5.2 Differencing-Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)

Fig18: Normalised difference vegetation difference for 1990 image

59

Fig19: Normalised difference vegetation Index for 2000 image

5.5.2.1 Performance and limitations of NDVI

It can be seen from its mathematical definition that the NDVI of an area containing a dense vegetation canopy will tend to have positive values (say 0.3 to 0.8) while clouds fields will be characterized by negative values of this index. Other targets on Earth visible from space include: free standing water (e.g., oceans, seas, lakes and rivers) which have a rather low reflectance in both spectral bands (at least away from shores) and thus result in very low positive or even slightly negative NDVI values. Soils/bare areas and urban areas which generally exhibit a near-infrared spectral reflectance somewhat larger than the red, and thus tend to also generate rather small positive NDVI values (say 0.1 to 0.2). In addition to the simplicity of the algorithm and its capacity to broadly distinguish vegetated areas from other surface types, the NDVI also has the advantage of compressing the size of the data to be manipulated by a factor 2 (or more), since it replaces the two spectral bands by a single new field (eventually coded on 8 bits instead of the 10 or more bits of the original
60

data). Using the NDVI for quantitative assessments (as opposed to qualitative surveys as indicated above) raises a number of issues that may seriously limit the actual usefulness of this index if they are not properly addressed. Also, the NDVI has tended to be over-used (if not abused) in applications for which it was never designed. The following subsections review some of these issues as stated in Wikipedia, 2009.

Mathematically, the sum and the difference of the two spectral channels contain the same information as the original data, but the difference alone (or the normalized difference) carries only part of the initial information. Whether the missing information is relevant or valuable is for the user to judge, but it is important to understand that an NDVI product carries only a fraction of the information available in the original spectral reflectance data.

The reflectance measurements should be relative to the same area and be acquired simultaneously. This may not be easy to achieve with instruments that acquire different spectral channels through different cameras or focal planes. Mis-registration of the spectral images may lead to substantial errors and unusable results.

Also, the calculation of the NDVI value turns out to be sensitive to a number of perturbing factors including

Atmospheric effects: The actual composition of the atmosphere (in particular with respect to water vapor and aerosols) can significantly affect the measurements made in space. Hence, the latter may be misinterpreted if these effects are not properly taken into account (as is the case when the NDVI is calculated directly on the basis of raw measurements).

Soil effects: Soils tend to darken when wet, so that their reflectance is a direct function of water content. If the spectral response to moistening is not exactly the same in the two spectral bands, the NDVI of an area can appear to change as a result of soil moisture changes (precipitation or evaporation) and not because of vegetation changes.

The absolute difference of the two NDVI images represents the changes that have occurred in
61

the vegetation covers between the two periods as shown in figure 20. The higher the brightness value in the grey scale, the higher the change in the vegetation cover. The lower values are areas that did not change within the two periods. There is a clear indication that water cover and existing urban/bare areas did not change and such have zero or a very lower value. The brighter areas which represent change in vegetation are as a result of evolution of urban/bare areas. The NDVI differencing hence is vital in identifying changes in urban areas by investigating the changes in the vegetation cover.

Fig20: Change in vegetation/Non-change area

5.5.3 Differencing-Principal Component Analysis (PCA)

In the figure below, the pink areas represent urban/bare areas in 1990. This is because in the PCA analysis, urban areas have a high reflectance values than any other land-cover/land-use category. The other areas are represented by dark blue colour.

62

Fig. 21: Principal component transformation for 1990 image The PCA transformation for the 2000 image was re-classed into urban areas and other areas using the reflectance values to show the extent of urban areas.

Fig. 22: Principal component transformation for 2000 image

Finally, the two transformed images from PCA were differenced to show the changes that have occurred in the urban areas within the decade. The result is shown in the figure 23 below.

63

Fig. 23: Difference in the second Principal components

From the above image, the PCA has proven to be a good technique in identifying the new urban area that has evolved within the decade. The new urban area evolved is also an indication that there has been lost of vegetation within the two periods.

5.5.4 Differencing-TASSCAP transformations

Fig. 24: Differencing in the brightness value between the two images

64

From the above image, the green areas represent areas of higher reflectance values after differencing the images. This is clear indication that there has been an increase in the reflectance values between the two images. The increase in the reflectance value resulted from the evolution of urban areas. The increase in urban area is clear indication that there has been decrease in vegetation. In this sense the brightness maps generated from TassCap transformation differencing can be used in studying urban growth.

Fig.25: Difference in greenness value between the two images

The greenness layer created from TassCap represents vegetation. Differencing the greenness images for the two periods creates a new layer that represents change in vegetation. The negative value is an indication that there has been decrease in vegetation. The decrease in vegetation is as a result of formation of new urban areas.

65

Fig.26: Differencing moistens (Change/non-change map from differencing moistens layers)

Change in moisture content (dark blue represents change in moisture content whiles pink represents no change in moisture content. This implies, the change in moisture content is as a result of changes in the vegetation. Some of the dense herbaceous cover was transformed into urban areas. Some portion of the open vegetation cover was also transformed into dense herbaceous cover and grass. Because of seasonal variation in the data-set, the moisture content for a particular land-cover class can vary significantly for the two periods. This can subsequently affect the change detection process.

5.6 Change areas accuracy assessment

A more reliable and rigorous approach for accuracy assessment is to randomly sample areas detected as non-change and change and determining whether or not they were correctly detected. Random areas representing change and non-change areas in the change map created were selected to perform the change detection accuracy. Randomly sample areas in the change/non-change map were selected by making sure that they were distributed throughout the map for the change detection accuracy. Caution was taken to minimised choosing pixels on the boundaries of change area. Each sample point was compared to the reference data to confirm if the change had actually occurred. Two measures were introduced two quantify the accuracy namely: over and under estimation of the change. The first shows how much the method labels the no-change pixels to change class, and the second how much the method missed the change pixels. The lower these values are the more accurate the method is.

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Table13: Change detection accuracies for the three methods Change detection method NDVI PCA TASSCAP Overall accuracy % 79.51 82.32 70.13 Overall kappa 0.715 0.753 0.698 Mislabelled change % 17.513 16.537 28.643 Missed change % 21.733 18.422 26.673

5.7 General discussions

Land use is the management of land to meet human needs and human activities which are directly related to land. It is not simply any human activity but must be functionally linked to the land on which it takes place. The vegetation (natural or planted) or human constructions (buildings, etc.) that cover the earth's surface is known as land cover. These two definitions imply that human activities contribute to changes in the land use and land cover types. Data on land use and cover are obtained from four different sources namely census data, remotely sensed data, ground observation data and administrative data as cited by Young (2004). Before an in-depth analysis can be made on these changes, there is the need for the available data to be processed to information. The multi-spectral satellite data was processed into informational classes which are the land use and cover types. From figures 9 and 10; land use map of Accra, in 1990 and 2000 respectively, it is clear that a lot of changes have taken place in the land use and land cover types. However, the major change results from the evolution of urban areas as a result of rapid urban growth in the city. In order to understand the changes and to aid policy formulation and implementation regarding urban planning, the following things should be considered namely: Classification of the land cover categories Quantification of the dynamics of the land cover classes Detection of the change/no-change areas Evaluation of the different change detection methods and techniques

To achieve this, the various land-cover/use classes should be analysed. In the cross tabulation table, the total number of cells for each land cover and land use classes that have changed from 1990 to 2000 are shown with the highest change being class 5 (urban/bare areas) with the least change occurring in class 6 (water). From the tabulation table, the columns represent the old values and the rows represent the new values. From tables 9 and 10, the total number of cells that have changed within each land cover category can be expressed as a percentage
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with the following values: Closed vegetation cover, 56.40 % Open vegetation cover, 64.07 % Dense herbaceous cover, 28.70 % Grasslands and herbs, 25.61 % Urban area, 59.34 % Water bodies, 3.68 % These values quantify the percentage change in each land cover category. The cross tabulation gives additional information about from-to which makes post classification change detection so unique. The third task is the detection of the urban expansion as described in the post classification change detection processes. Change map in figure 14 visualised the expansion process of the urban fringe. In order to find out the location or direction of the sprawl, visual inspection of the two classified images for 1990 and 2000 respectively as shown in figures 9 and 10. The change maps in figures 13 and 14 can be used to explain the direction of the change. It is clear that the sprawl is towards east direction (Tema municipality) which is the most industrious area in Ghana and Ghanas biggest harbour city. The two cities Accra and Tema are now encroaching into each other. This implies that the harbour and the industries around Tema may be the attracting force for most people to acquire a residence closer to this vicinity as result of many socio-economic reasons. The bar chart below shows the changes within the various land-cover classes which explain the trend of the changes.

Fig.27. General Comparison of Area occupy by Land cover categories in Accra

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5.7.1 Closed vegetation cover

About 42.87% of this land cover class did not change. However, there was a transformation of 50.18%, 4.12%, 1.27%, 1.47 and 0.09% into open vegetation cover, dense herbaceous cover, grass, urban and water respectively. The lower value for the transformation of closed vegetation cover into water gives an indication that there was some misclassification. Visual analysis of the images gives a clear indication that closed vegetation does not transform into water. But in effect, the most important changes were able to be quantified. The higher percentage of closed vegetation cover was transformed into open vegetation. This is because the population exploded within the decade and there was continuous pressure on the dense forest for human use. Most of the forest were destroyed for timber, charcoal (major source of fuel for cooking), furniture and roofing. The forest cover in the area at present is almost diminishing. Some areas however such as Achimota forest reserve are been protected.

5.7.2 Open vegetation cover

Open Vegetation cover: Most of the open vegetation cover was converted to dense herbaceous cover (farm lands). The percentage transformation was 61.62% as shown in the cross-tabulation table. The remaining open vegetation cover from the classified map in 2000 was 19.41% of the previous decade (1990). The reason for this transformation is evolution of vegetated fields to satisfy the increasing population. About 0.6% and 18.33% were also transformed into grass and urban areas. However there were some misclassified pixels which gave false impression that closed -vegetation (0.03%) and water (0.01%) were evolved from open vegetation cover.

5.7.3 Dense Herbaceous cover

Dense herbaceous cover: There has been increase in the vegetated field for farming purposes. About 25.99% and 3.63% of dense herbaceous cover in 1990 were transformed into urban areas/bare areas and grass respectively in 2000. However 61.62% of the fields/farms also evolved from the transformation of open vegetation cover.

5.7.4 Grass/herb
Grass: There has been slight increase in this land-cover type. The major change was transformation into urban areas (7.54%). There were some false changes as shown in the cross-tabulation table. The false changes are closed vegetation cover (0.01%), open vegetation

cover (0.03%), dense herbaceous cover (0.26%) and water bodies (0.23). This mixclassification represents the errors that are associated with the change detection process using post-classification technique.

5.7.5 Built up/bare area

Urban/bare areas: The urban area in Accra has increase tremendously within the two decades. This resulted from rural-urban migration. Accra is the most developed city in Ghana and most of the country major financial institutions, education institutions, industries and factories etc are located there. As a result, rural-urban migration has been characterizing Accra. The overall percentage increase within the decade is about 59%. Recent estimations suggest that the city has expanded twice from 1990. However, bare areas couldnt be differentiated from urban areas and this might cause over estimation of the expansion of the urban areas. The new urban areas resulted from the transformation of closed vegetation cover (1.47%), open vegetation cover (18.33%) dense herbaceous cover (25.99%) and grass (7.54%).

5.7.6 Water
Water on the average seems to have quite similar area but there are some slight variations. The slight reduction of water bodies resulted from evolution of vegetations and urban/bare areas from water. There is the possibility of wetland been classify as water and so over the two decades the wet land might have become dry land. This land may have been used for urban purposes or may be exposed as a bare-land. There could be possibilities of rivers and streams diminishing in size as a result of degradation of the forested areas. Also, the seasonal variation of the acquisition of the satellite data could represent different precipitation of the water bodies. This means, one has to be very careful in predicting changes in water bodies. The trend of water within the two periods is shown in figure 27.

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6 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

6.1 Conclusion
Land use and land cover change dynamics has been one of the topics when dealing with spatial dynamics. Accra, capital city of Ghana has increased in size and population as a result of many social-economic factors notably urbanization and industrialization. The aim of the study was to detect land-use/land-cover changes in Accra metropolitan area. The sub-objectives are: Classification of the land cover categories Quantification of the dynamics of the land cover classes Detection of the change/no-change areas Evaluation of the different change detection methods and techniques

Two change detection approaches were selected for this purpose; image-to-image comparison and post-classification comparison. These two change detection categories used can be grouped as direct and indirect change detection. Three different direct change detection methods were chosen. These are Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and TassCap transformation differencing. All the selected methods (except the TassCap) were based on the fact that the urban features have high reflection in the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum. In general, the image-to-image change detection methods showed good results in detecting new urban features, with overall accuracies higher than that of the Post classification comparison change detection. The satellite images were also classified to six land cover classes; Closed vegetation-cover, open vegetation cover, dense herbaceous- cover, grass/herb, urban/bare area and water bodies. The classification was performed combining both supervised and unsupervised classifiers. The final urban change map, from post-classification comparison (PCC), had an accuracy of 74.63%. The PCC performed much better detecting the non-changed areas, but missed more than 26% of the changed areas. For the image-to- image change maps the corresponding value was 21% for NDVI, 18% for PCA c2 and 27% for TassCap. This indicates that the image-toimage change maps detected the changes areas better, but that they also contained more noise than the PCC change map. In conclusion, the image-to-image change detection has almost the same accuracy level that the PCC, even in large scale testing. The post-classification analysis showed that the major land cover changes were between open vegetation and dense71

herbaceous cover and urban/bare areas .The closed vegetation areas had changed, but partially the changes were due to misclassification caused by the seasonal change between the dates. The urban expansion was anyway detected and the urban growth map showed that the new built-up areas are close to the existing built-up areas. The results demonstrate that the urban area has increased by about 59% within the decade which is an indication that there has been a drastic growth within the city of Accra as a result of accelerated urbanization and industrialization. Numeric values for the area occupied by the land cover types were not sufficiently enough to the beneficiaries of this research and such statistical charts were also displayed to show the general trends of the land use/ cover dynamics. In terms of computation time and complexness, PCC took significantly more time and had to be performed in several steps. The advantage with PCC is the resulting transition matrix that cannot be received from image-toimage change detection, but if the application is targeted on limited land cover changes the image-to-image change detection is faster.

6.2 Recommendation
Land use and land cover change have both favourable and unfavourable impacts. In order to get comprehensive, pragmatic and scientific measures to monitor this phenomenon, interdisciplinary approaches should be employed. Geographic Information System and Remote sensing technologies are versatile tools which cannot be ignored in monitoring land use and land cover change. However, the availability of these technologies is not just enough but there is the need for an accurate processing of remotely sensed data as any error introduced into the image processing procedure will propagate to the final analysis. It is recommended that different image processing techniques should be employed in order to compare the results and to detect mistakes in the analysis. For urban change detection testing, different combinations of indices and sensors could also be of interest. Improving the classification process is also interesting area of further investigation. The bare open fields caused false urban changes and these could be minimized by using more frequent data covering different growth seasons. If the spatial metrics and the classification results would be reliable, the next exciting step would be simulation of the land cover changes and future growth in the region. Here automata-based modelling could be tested.

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