Determination of characteristic properties of rural residental areas using remotely sensed data

The shanty, haphazard and unplanned settlements have become one of the most essential issues in the Third-World and developing countries, resulting from the unfilled provision of a planned development at rural areas. Determination of rural areas prior to rural planning is an important task in order to provide a healthy social and economic structure and protect natural environment by preventing shanty settlements. In this respect, preparing rural plans to protect the structures of the natural and rural areas require accurate and up-to-date geographical data and extensive spatial analysis that could be employed by the integration of remote sensing technology and geographic information systems. In this research, Karabuk Province located on the western part of Blacksea region having broad rural settlements was selected as study area to determine the characteristic features of the rural settlements using satellite sensor images. Furthermore, an assessment was conducted to analyze the correlation of these features with the spatial configuration of the rural settlements.