Assessment of Land Use and Land Cover Changes in Jalna City Using Remote Sensing and GIS

Abstract

Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) change is a significant indicator of urban growth and environmental transformation. This study analyses the temporal changes in LULC within Jalna City, Maharashtra, India, from 2000 to 2026 using Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques. Five major LULC categories—Water Bodies, Agricultural Land, Built-up Land, Vegetation, and Barren/Open Land—were mapped and analysed using multi-temporal satellite data. Area and percentage statistics, year-wise comparison, and trend analysis were employed to quantify the changes. The results indicate substantial urban transformation, with built-up land increasing from 5.79 km² in 2000 to 29.78 km² in 2026. In contrast, agricultural land decreased from 34.35 km² to 27.17 km², while barren/open land declined from 37.45 km² to 21.54 km². Vegetation also showed an overall reduction, whereas water bodies exhibited inter-annual fluctuations. The findings demonstrate a clear shift towards an increasingly urbanized landscape and highlight the effectiveness of Remote Sensing and GIS for monitoring long-term LULC dynamics. The study provides useful information for sustainable urban planning and land-resource management in Jalna City.

Introduction

The text presents a Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) change analysis of Jalna City, Maharashtra, using Remote Sensing, GIS, QGIS, and the Random Forest classification algorithm. The study aims to understand how land has changed over time due to urbanization, population growth, infrastructure development, agriculture, and other human activities.

Importance of the Study

Land is an important resource for settlements, agriculture, industries, transportation, and ecosystems. Rapid urbanization can convert agricultural land, vegetation, and open spaces into built-up areas, affecting surface runoff, groundwater recharge, local climate, and ecological balance. Therefore, monitoring LULC changes is important for sustainable land management and urban planning.

Remote Sensing provides multi-temporal satellite imagery for identifying different land-cover types, while GIS enables spatial analysis, area calculation, and comparison of changes over time.

Study Area

The study focuses on Jalna City in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra, India. The city covers approximately 81.6 km² and contains a mixture of:

• Built-up areas
• Agricultural land
• Vegetation
• Barren/open land
• Water bodies

Built-up areas are mainly concentrated in the developed central parts of the city, while agricultural and open areas are more common around the city's outskirts. Continuous urban and infrastructure development has resulted in changes to these land-cover categories.

Methodology

The study analyses LULC changes from 2000 to 2026 using multi-temporal satellite imagery. The main process involves:

1. Satellite data collection
2. Data preprocessing
3. Clipping images to the Jalna City boundary
4. Preparation of training samples
5. Random Forest supervised classification
6. Generation of LULC maps
7. Accuracy assessment
8. Calculation of area and percentage for each class
9. Comparison of different years
10. Analysis of land-use change and trends

Five major LULC classes were identified: Water Bodies, Agricultural Land, Built-up Land, Vegetation, and Barren/Open Land.

LULC Distribution

For the reported 2000 classification, the distribution was:

For the reported 2026 classification:

Conclusion

The present study examined the temporal changes in Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) within Jalna City, Maharashtra, over the period from 2000 to 2026 using Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques. The analysis considered five major LULC categories: Water Bodies, Agricultural Land, Built-up Land, Vegetation, and Barren/Open Land. The integration of multi-temporal satellite data, LULC classification, area estimation, percentage analysis, and trend assessment provided a comprehensive understanding of the long-term transformation of the study area. The results revealed considerable changes in the spatial structure of Jalna City during the study period. Among all categories, built-up land exhibited the most prominent increase, expanding from approximately 5.79 km² in 2000 to 29.78 km² in 2026. This substantial growth indicates continuous urban expansion and increasing development pressure within the city. The temporal trend demonstrates a clear shift towards a more urbanized landscape. In contrast, Agricultural Land and Barren/Open Land showed an overall declining trend. Agricultural land decreased from approximately 34.35 km² to 27.17 km², while Barren/Open Land declined from 37.45 km² to 21.54 km². Vegetation also exhibited an overall reduction from 3.67 km² to 1.47 km², indicating changes in the natural and semi-natural land-cover pattern. Water Bodies occupied a comparatively smaller proportion of the study area and showed temporal fluctuations, increasing from 0.41 km² in 2000 to 1.63 km² in 2026. The comparative area and percentage trend analyses clearly demonstrated the changing relationship among the five LULC categories. Built-up land showed a strong increasing trajectory, whereas agricultural and barren/open land generally declined over the study period. These transformations indicate that urban growth has become a major factor influencing the spatial organization and land-use pattern of Jalna City. Overall, the study confirms the effectiveness of Remote Sensing and GIS techniques for monitoring long-term LULC dynamics. The use of year-wise LULC maps, quantitative area calculations, percentage distribution, and multi-line trend analysis enabled effective identification and interpretation of major land-use transformations. The findings provide useful baseline information for understanding past urban growth and can support future land-use planning and sustainable development initiatives in Jalna City.

References

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Copyright

Copyright © 2026 Satish S. Wagh, Dr. Ganesh K. Patil. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.