Baorong Du

Urban change is an important urban planning and environmental issue. Previous urban change detection studies in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) usually involved limited dates and/or study areas. Landsat imagery from 1972 to 2004 were used in this research that cover the majority of the contiguous urban area in the GTA. A series of urban change detection experiments were performed that compared methodologies and techniques. The results greatly improved classification accuracy, particularly for Landsat Multispectral Scanner (MSS) data. A yearly average of 14.1 km2 of new development was observed, which corresponds well with results from previous studies in this area. The patterns and rates ofurban change varied among municipalities inside the GTA.