Using remote sensing and gis for the assessment of visual attributes: A case study of the south coastal zone of Turkey

Manavgat and Side, constituting a small part of Manavgat River and Titreyen Lake regions located along the southern coastal zone of Turkey, have been selected as study area. The analysis of land-use changes and their corresponding environmental impacts in the study area were aimed. For this purpose, 1984 and 1987-dated Landsat TM, and 2003-dated SPOT HRV remotely sensed satellite images were used. The results obtained from the evaluation of satellite images were merged together with ground data, analyzed using GIS and changes in land cover and both Manavgat River and coastal line were evaluated. Significant changes, namely the increase in urbanization and decrease in agricultural area, occurred in land cover type because of intensive tourism activities.