Using spatiotemporal analysis in urban sprawl assessment and prediction

Abstract

The importance of soil resource protection is now universally recognized, but despite a lot of debates and principles enunciation, in the last decades the soil was consumed at a rate of 8 m2 per second. In this paper a simulation model has been proposed based on two methods: Joint information uncertainty and Weights of Evidence in order to analyse and predict new built-up areas. The proposed model has been applied to Pisticci Municipality in Basilicata region (Southern Italy). This area is a significant example, because of high landscape values and, at the same time, of a lot of developing pressure due to touristic activities along the coastal zone. © 2014 Springer International Publishing.