EMMANUEL M. MENEGBO
Department of Surveying and Geoinformatics,
Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic,
Port Harcourt, Nigeria
e-mail: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
The acquisition of reliable spatial data is important to provide an overview of developments of areas with significant changes in population, especially for the remote towns of the Third World. Information derived from Earth observation satellites can assist and relieve organizations struggling with non-functioning infrastructure and allow for effective infrastructural planning. The specific objective of this work was to estimate Gokana Local Government Area settlements population using Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques. Post-classification landuse and landcover data was downloaded from Global land cover 30 and similarly, the Raster dataset of estimated population downloaded from Worldpop. The raster dataset was masked to the study area. Vector datasets were matched and clipped to the study area using Quantum Geographic Information System (QGIS) desktop software. The land cover data was vectorised and geometry fixed. A selection query was carried out to separate the settlement areas from other land uses. Zonal statistics was used to estimate the population of settlements. The result shows that Bodo has the largest population with 11450 inhabitants and Yeghe with the lowest population of 154 people. The total settlement size of the Gokana LGA is 29781000m2. However, Bomu, Gbe, Lewe and Nwebiara were left out of the study due to inaccurate land use dataset used in this research. This research has demonstrated the use of remote sensing together with GIS applicability in land use patterns and degree of urbanization in relation to population and establishment of infrastructure.
Keywords: Geospatial Mapping; Landcover; population; settlements; Gokana LGA