The use of satellite image maps for urban planning in Turkey

In several countries the lack of reliable mapping is a serious constraint to development in many sectors, particularly within the fields of rural and urban development and for the planning, management, extraction and balanced use of natural resources and the environment. Since Landsat satellite sensor data became available in 1972, valuable information on three decades of the Earth's resources has also been made available. Today, satellite image maps (SIM) are used in a variety of applications in many disciplines, such as in agriculture, forestry, municipal or regional overview planning, infrastructure planning, or other activities, where up-to-date facts about landscape status and change are important. SIMs are satellite imagery in a map sheet format representing two major types of geographical information - raster imagery itself and supporting vector data with important features for the application. Especially in areas where traditional maps are old or non-existent, the SIM has proved to be an invaluable source of information. in this study, map production and map updating in Turkey w ill be summarized and the importance of the use of SIM for urban planning and for detection of changes in ground features and integration with existing maps into Geographic Information Systems (GIS) will be explained, with application examples.