Study of Land use compatibility using Remote sensing and GIS

Bhiwandi surrounding Notified Area (BSNA) Mumbai

Karamjeet Singh* and Deepti Singh

Punjab Remote sensing Centre, PAU Campus, Ludhiana, 141004, India
*E-mail: Kjeet12@gmail.com

Abstract: Land is the most important natural resource, which comprises soil, water and the associated flora and
fauna, thus involving the total ecosystem. Any country in the world is trying to achieve stable development.
Spatial planning is trying to organize the human and activity in environment in such a way that stable
development would be achieved in various contexts. The present study has been carried out to find the land use
compatibility after doing detailed land use analysis using remote sensing and GIS as well as potentials of
BSNA, near Mumbai. The population in BSNA has increased at a decadal growth rate of 44% during 1981-
1987. This resulted in a haphazard distribution of land use/land cover of BSNA. High resolution satellite data
(Quick Bird-61 cms) has been used to prepare the detailed land use/land cover of the study area. The study
shows that BSNA is randomly distributed with haphazard growth of urbanization for e.g. Slums which have a
poor living quality due to submerging between industries. Large amount of warehouses also generate
employment, attracting the population of different places for economic activities. Employment is an important
factor which is cause of population concentration and creating the problem of unauthorized residents and slums
in this area.

Key words: Remote Sensing, GIS, Spatial planning Land use compatibility


INTRODUCTION

Land is the most important natural resource,
which comprises soil, water and the associated flora
and fauna, thus involving the total ecosystem.
Knowledge of spatial distribution of land use, land
cover is essential for planning and management
activities. The term land cover describes type of
materials/features present on the surface of earth,
e.g., vegetation, rocks, buildings and highways,
while the expression land use relates to human
activity, i.e., how a land is used such as, for
agriculture, residence and industry.

Any country in the world is trying to
achieve stable development. Stable development may
be defined as suitable and efficient utilizing from
natural, financial and human resources to achieve a
desirable consumption pattern and utilizing suitable
technical and organizational abilities which provide
current and future necessities (sadough2001).

Spatial planning is trying to organize the
human and activity in environment in such a way that
stable development would be achieved in various
contexts. Spatial Planning is defined as adjusting the
relationship between human, land and human
activities in the land in order to have a stable
utilization from all spatial and human possibilities to
improve material and moral situation of society along
the time (makhdoum1999).

Geographical Information System is an
important tool in development planning for two
principal reasons. Firstly, it is oriented to the spatial
component of development. This comprises the use
of the land for human settlements, the use of land
resources as in agriculture and forestry, and the
management and protection of the natural
environment. Second, GIS is not oriented solely to
geographic aspects of planning, but also to its
informational contents. It can also provide major
help in identifying trouble spots and in suggesting
possible actions. Land use mapping using survey
methods has been a lengthy and cumbersome
procedure which needs to be updated. The use of GIS
and Remote Sensing is helpful in time saving and
efficient land use mapping.

Introduction to Study Area

BSNA is Bhiwandi surrounding notified
area in Mumbai. Before the emergence of Mumbai,
Bhiwandi because of its strategic location, Bhiwandi
had been an important trading center. During Mughal
rule, Bhiwandi was known as Bhimbari.

Bhiwandi, is located in the east of Sahyadri
mountain ranges which belongs to the North Konkan
region of Maharashtra in the Konkan coastal
lowlands. The average elevation is 24 m above msl.
The Bhiwandi Surrounding Notified Area lies
between 19 12' 07 N to 19 21' 50 N latitude and
72 59' 48 E to 73 7' 50 E longitude. It forms a
part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
(Environment Status Report Bhiwandi, 2004-05).The
boundary of BSNA is marked by hills, ridges and
forests in the north, east and northwest. The Ulhas
River demarcates its southern boundary. Due to
natural hard and soft high-rise and low-lying features
in its surroundings, Bhiwandi has a saucer type of


topography. Due to natural water bodies like rivers
and creeks located in its vicinity, a major chunk of
land of Bhiwandi remains under swampy conditions
due to backlash of marine water and subsequent
inundation due to the presence of Thane creek,
Bassein creek and other minor inlets increasing the
landmass.

One of the development potentials of this
site is its nearness to District Thane and the
metropolis of Mumbai. It is located at 16 kms from
Thane and 10 kms from Kalyan. It is linked to Thane
and Mumbai through Bombay-Nasik National
Highway No.3, Vasai through Kalyan through
National Highway No. 222 and Vasai-Diva railway
line. Due to its nearness to Mumbai city and good
transportation network, the Godowns and
warehouses for storage goods for Mumbai market are
located here and the town is famous for both
handlooms and power looms. These factors have
been playing a major role in changing the
development scenario of the town. However, the
drainage of the area is poor due to its topographical
and geological conditions. Agriculture is also poor
due to presence of marine water and poor irrigation
facilities. The villages in BSNA have been neglected
because of poor transportation and communication
system.

Demographics

The population in BSNA has increased at a
decadal growth rate of 44% during 1981-1987. It has
further increase at a higher growth rate of 47.2%
during 1991-2001. The growing population of BSNA
may be attributed to natural growth, influence of
migration, increasing employ ability in the
warehousing sector and power loom industries in
BSNA and Bhiwandi city.

Table.1 indicates that the population in
BNSA has experienced a rising trend between 1981-
2001.

Table 1. Decadal growth rate of BSNA

The main objectives of study are:

To analyze the land use break down of
BSNA and find out the compatibility of different
land uses, using the remote sensing and GIS.

Identifying the major constraints and
potentials of different land uses of study area
adopting GIS techniques.
MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY

Availability of high resolution satellite data
has provided an opportunity for the detailed study of
Bhiwandi Surrounding Notified Area for the year
2008. Georeferenced Quick-Bird data (multispectral)
of the year 2008 with spatial resolution of 60 cm was
used to interpret the land use/land cover of study the
area. The satellite data was procured from National
Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) Hyderabad in
digital form. All the ancillary data used with the
satellite data was registered with respect satellite
image.

After the theoretical framework the
georeferenced Quick Bird data of year 2008 having
61cm spatial resolution was used to interpret the land
use /land cover of study area. After the field survey
and verification of ground truthing the final map of
land use and land cover has been prepared with
relation to development pattern and layer of
structures are also prepared. On the bases of land use
map the compatibility of land uses are also analyzed.

The flowchart of entire methodology at
various stages is shown in Fig.1.

For final output, the land use of villages was
classified into 19 categories as shown in Table.2.

Table 2. Land use categories

S.No. Categories
1 Residential
2 Industrial
3 Commercial
4 Mixed-built-up
5 Warehouses
6 Public/semi-public
7 Electric sub stations
8 Elevated service reservoir
9 Water works & Treatment plants
10 Roads
11 New structures
12 Agricultural land
13 Forest
14 Wetland
15 Cultivable but barren land
16 Mining area
17 Brick kilns
18 Open spaces
19 Water bodies (Rivers, creeks, Island
lakes, ponds, wells)


Year Total Population Decadal growth rate
1981 79242 -
1991 114349 44.3%
2001 165633 47.2%































































1
st
Stage
2
nd
Stage
3
rd
Stage
Georeferenced Quick-Bird Image
Necessary digital Image enhancements
Visual
Interpretation
Digital Vector
Layer Creation
On Screen Digitization
Editing, Attribute creation & database entry in Arc map

Potential and constraints of BSNA

Field data collection

Field check & refinement

Final Output maps of 2008 and findings

4
th
Stage
Fig. 1. Flowchart of methodology


RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Existing Land Use

The existing land use map of BSNA has been
prepared on the basis of satellite imageries with
0.61cm spatial and 11bit radiometric resolution. The
Quick Bird satellite imageries of March 02, 2008. are
used to obtain land use layers in Arc GIS software.

The detailed land use of BSNA is shown in
Table.3. BSNA comprises of 59 constituent villages.
The total area of BSNA computed on GIS platform is
144.89 Sq km. BSNA also includes the Census towns
which are part of the urban agglomeration.

It is evident from Table.3 that warehousing
is the dominant land use under built up category in
BSNA. The area under warehousing is about 5 per
cent of total area closely followed by the residential
use, which constitutes 3.6% area i.e. 525.68 hectares.
Fig.2 shows that the dominated land use i.e.
warehouses or godowns/storage are largely
concentrated in southwest portion of the area. The
area devoted to elevated service reservoirs is about
0.36 ha. Table.3 shows that area under mixed
category which includes residential, commercial and
industrial together accounts for about little less than
1 per cent of total BSNA.

The other uses include agricultural use,
marshy land, cultivable but barren land and forest
etc. The dominated land use category is agricultural
use which covers 8454 hectare which comprises
about 58 per cent of total BSNA.

Forest land constitutes about 1303 ha which
is about 9% of total area. The marshy land covers
about 7.6 per cent of total BSNA. It might be
attributed to the presence of several creeks, tidal
flats, mudflats and bars experiencing backlash under
the influence of spring tides and rivers resulting in
swampy conditions in adjacent lands. The map
shows that there are detached patches of mining area
observed in Mankoli and Ovali villages.

The area under mining sites is about 1 per
cent of total BSNA. Another interesting feature of
BSNA is large chunk of cultivable land (3.35 per
cent of total area) but is barren. This land could be
utilized for development purposes. The remote

Table.3. BSNA: Existing Land Use Distribution (2008)

S.No Land use Class Area (Ha)
Percent to total
BSNA area
A Built-Up uses
1
Residential
525.68 3.63
2
Industrial
371.22 2.56
3
Commercial
82.77 0.57
4
Warehousing/Godowns
651.12 4.50
5
Mixed
118.08 0.82
6
Public/Semi -Public
26.94 0.19
7
Electric Sub-Stations
27.40 0.19
8
Elevated Service Reservoir
0.36 0.002
9
Water Works and Treatment Plants
36.50 0.25
10
Major Roads
75.54 0.52
11
New Structures
0.31 0.002
B Other uses
12
Agricultural Land
8454.15 58.38
13
Forest
1303.76 9.00
14
Marshy Land
1101.68 7.61
15
Cultivable But Barren Land
484.47 3.35
16
Mining Area
155.48 1.07
17
Brick Kilns
128.94 0.89
18
Water Bodies (Rivers, inland lakes, ponds, creeks, wells etc)
353.51 2.44
19
Open Spaces and Green Belt, Water Supply Pipelines and
railways
583.90
4.03

C Total Area 14489.85 100.00


sensing data also exhibits that brick kilns cover about
128 ha. Water bodies which include inland rivers,
lakes, ponds and wells etc. cover 353 ha land which
constitutes 2.44 per cent of total area. The open
spaces and green belt, water supply pipelines cover
about the 4% of the total area. The BSNA land
utilization pattern has a diverse composition in terms
of total development scenario.

Compatibility of Land Use

The compatibility of the land use is an
essential component for assessing the qualitative
aspect of land use. The existing land use of the area
shows that there are some land uses which are not
compatible with the surrounding land uses. Kalher,
Purne, and Rahanal villages have a mixing of
residential area with warehousing. Some residential
areas have mingled with industrial use creating
several problems to the residential area.

The foregoing analysis on land use indicates
that the BSNA has a distinct land use character as
compared to other areas. It has agricultural land,
marshy land, cultivable but barren land, quarrying
area, forest area, large concentration of
godowns/warehouses and industries etc. The
maximum use of land in BSNA is for agriculture
which constitutes about 58 per cent of total notified
area.
The area under forest cover is 9 per cent
which is closely followed by marshy land (7.61%).
The area under wetlands based on Coastal regulation
zone (CRZ) notification accounts for about one-fifth
of total notified area. It lowers the scope of future
growth and development in a large portion of 35
villages of BSNA.

The land covered under public/semi-public
amenities which include educational institutions,
health care facilities, post offices, banks, co-
operative societies, community halls, religious places
and cremation grounds etc. is very small (0.19%) as
compared to other activities in BSNA. The study
reveals that BSNA lacks in terms of higher
educational facilities both in general and technical.
There are only five educational institutes imparting
education at senior secondary (Junior College) level.

The existing water works located in some
parts of BSNA are not only catering to the population
of Bhiwandi city but also serving the population of
Mumbai and other surrounding areas. In all there are
four water works in four villages of BSNA. These
villages are Ovali. Pimplas, Vaghivali and Yavai.
There are four electric sub stations with different
capacity of electric load located in Kambe, Anjur,
Pimplas and Yavai villages. There is only one
Sewage Treatment Plant in the entire BSNA located
on the border of Katai and Khoni villages. The
Fig.2. Dominated land use i.e. warehouses or Godowns Warehouses/Godowns

Residential
Industrial
Warehousin
Water bodies
Marshy Land
CRZ
High Tide Line
Low Tide Line
National Highway
Major State Highway
State highway
Major district Roads
Village Roads


remaining area lacks in this kind of sewerage
treatment plants even in the wake of growing
industrialization and urbanization in the area.

The availability of large chunk of land
under cultivable but barren use is 3.35 per cent which
could be used for development purposes. The land
under quarrying is 1.07 per cent which needs to be
reclaimed, otherwise it would threaten the delicate
ecological cover of BSNA. The area under water
bodies is 2.44 per cent whereas the area under open
spaces and green belt which also includes water
supply pipelines and railways is about 4.03 per cent.

The compatibility analysis of existing land
use shows that there are some land uses which are
not compatible with the surrounding land use. Three
villages namely Kalher, Purne, and Rahanal have a
mixing of residential area with the warehousing.
Some residential areas have mingled with industrial
use creating several problems to the residential areas.

Also the land values in BSNA are not too
high and vary from 8000 to 9400 rupees per hectare
for industrial/warehousing purposes and rupees 9000
to 11300 per hectare for commercial activities.

The study brings out that area under
wetlands as per CRZ notification is 22.14 sq km
which comprises about one-fifth area of coastal
villages. The highest area under wetlands is
identified in Bharodi village which accounts the
about 90.00 per cent of total area of the village
followed by 71.78 per cent of total area in Alimghar
village. Dive village has about 65 per cent area under
wetlands. Kalher village has about 57 per cent area
under wetlands. 9 villages out of 35 villages, viz.,
Kalwar, Kasheli, Kashivali, Kopar, Rahanal,
Rajnagar, Sonale, Tambhavali and Vadghar covered
under Coastal Regulation Zone do not possess any
wetland. It is also notable here that details of CRZ
be duly considered while framing the planning
proposals for the development plan of the area.

Fig.3 shows that individual buildings are so
congested that it resulted in poor drainage quality of
the area.

The results of this study show that different
land use analysis objectives exist for different areas
in the study area. The relationship between land (soil
as an important land parameter) and land use can be
used to differentiate such areas. These areas can be
spatially depicted through application of GIS
techniques. The Bhiwandi area has a mixed land use
type comprising of Industrial, agricultural,
warehouses and mixed residential area including
slum areas.

Remote sensing and GIS techniques have

Fig. 3 Individual buildings of BSNA



been found very useful in finding the type of
land use even the individual buildings and residential
area merged in between the industrial area was well
delineated with high resolution satellite data (Quick
bird 61 cm).

The BSNA is randomly distributed with
haphazard growth of urbanization for e.g. Slums
which have a poor living quality due to submerging
between industries. If on one side these industries
give proper employment to the residents of
Bhiwandi, on the other hand these industries pose
serious life threatening problems like water pollution
and noise pollution in the area.

BSNA has a poor sanitary system due to which
flooding is a major serious treat to the area.
Residential land use comprises the 5.63 % of the area
which is in the form of small settlement along with
the roads, in old gaonthan of villages, and also spread
with the warehouses. Due to intense industrial
development there is immense concentration of
worker class. These worker classes residing in
scattered settlement with inappropriate infrastructure
facilities.

BSNA is already textile industrial hub and still
growing as centre of textile industries. Large amount
of warehouses also generate employment, attracting
the population of different places for economic
activities. Employment is an important factor which
is cause of population concentration and creating the
problem of unauthorized residents and slums in this
area. Some of residential usage are located in low
laying area (Pimplas, Pimpalner, Vehale, Sarang,
Alimghar, Kalher, Dive (Kevani) etc. have severe
problem of flooding during monsoon period.

The overall results shows that the BSNA has a
unplanned growth of population mixed with
industrial area due to which if on one side it gives
resources on the other hand also pose life threatening
problems

















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