Using GIS and Edge Detection to Map Urban Consolidation Patterns- A Case Study in City Of Monash, Australia
Urban consolidation has been featured in Australia for over twenty years as a growth management tool to accommodate an increasing population while reducing urban sprawl and preserving open space on the fringes. Although infill development in existing urban areas, previous known as dual occupancy has been occurred, to date there is little attempt to map its trends and patterns to understand the influence of urban consolidation policy. A previous study conducted in Melbourne (Buxton and Tieman, 2004) used tabular datasets from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), local government and Building Commissions to map infill patterns. Much effort was reported to clean up the tabular datasets and therefore it is not effective if the process needs to be regularly undertaken. We report here a new approach in which different existing spatial datasets that are available and accessible from local government, are integrated to map patterns of infill development using City of Monash as a case study. It is found that the designed approach allows mapping infill development at much finer scale (i.e. land parcel) than if using the ABS dataset alone. Additionally, it is demonstrated that GIS and remote sensing techniques assist to automatically mapping infill patterns. Rather relying on-screen comparison for verification of new development on selected land parcels (Phan et al., 2008), the use of edge detection technique of aerial photos improves this process. Discussion about the use of infill map to understand the practice of urban consolidation policy at the local government area is also presented.