Merging SPOT P and landsat tm thermal band for detection of land use/cover

Istanbul is the largest city of Turkey covering a total area of ∼ 57 500 km² and having a population of about 12.8 million according to the population census of 2011. Population of Istanbul was only 4.7 Million in the year of 1980. As a result of the rapid population growth and urbanization, the city has extremely expanded causing many changes in land use/cover. Remote sensing data provides very important information in determining changes in land use/cover changes. In this study, the possibility of using the combination of thermal bands with the satellite sensor imageries which has higher spatial resolution for land use/cover changes classes between the year 1992 to 2011 were examined. SPOT Panchromatic band in 1992 (10 m) and 2011 dated Landsat 5 TM data (all bands including thermal band) was merged for determine the changes in land use/cover in the metropolitan area of Istanbul. At the end of the study, it is evaluated that this combination can easily be used for determination of land use/cover changes in both the city and its surrounding. In addition, obtained results were verified with the recently obtained satellite sensor imageries.