Leveraging Imagery - Virginia Ziulu - Data in Evaluations - Applications of Remote-Sensing

This migration and the resulting rapid urbanization led to the forma- tion of informal settlements in Bathore toward the end of 1994 as the area attracted many migrants trying to settle in the vicinity of Tirana. [...] The IEG study attempted to determine the extent of urban growth in the Bathore pilot area and the level of integration of informal settlements into the formal urban fabric. [...] Calculating the percentage of the total pixels in each of the images analyzed that were classified into each of the four categories permits us to quantify precisely the visual perception of change. [...] More specifically for land use/land cover mapping, the methodology presented in this section is very flexible and allows users to customize (i) the number of classes (more or fewer classes can be covered based on the scope of the analysis), (ii) the frequency of the analysis, and (iii) the scale needed for the analysis (global, national, or for any defined area of analysis). [...] When imagery data are used as proxies, it is important to “ground truth” the data to assess the association between the imagery data proxy and the real phenomenon on the ground and to deepen the understanding of the real phe- nomenon to enhance the overall validity of findings.