Determination of Land Cover Changes and Land Use Potential of Lojing, Gua Musang Using GIS and Remote Sensing

Abstract

A valuable tool for identifying changes in land cover is remote sensing (RS) and geographic information systems (GIS). Increased socioeconomic activity, particularly in agriculture and logging in the Lojing highlands, has led to changes in the land use in Gua Musang. The research area is in Lojing, which is located between latitudes of N 4° 52' 12.52'' to N 4° 49' 31.26'' and longitudes of E101° 48' 49.62'' to E101° 48' 49.62'‘. This research focused on land cover changes of Lojing which were determined using Landsat 4-5 TM satellite imageries within a time interval of year 2009 and 2019. To ascertain land use changes in the research area and its environs, Maximum Likelihood Classification (MLC) was chosen as the classification technique. Results indicate that the agriculture occupy the greatest area. Over the past ten years, forest area has fallen by 15.555 % while agricultural land has expanded by 9.987 %. In contrast, vegetation has grown by 3.764 %, while the extent of barren land has increased by 2.108 % since 2009. The GIS-based weighted overlay method (WOM) was used to build the land use potential map for the Lojing area to ensure the best possible land use. Due to its topography, geology, and climate, the study area has a high potential for conversion to agricultural land, according to Landsat satellite analysis. As a conclusion, an important data source for research on regional planning is the determination of land use potential by taking the capability of the land and other features into consideration.