Landscape pattern analysis with GIS based on the principle of landscape ecology

GIS provides quantitative method for studying land use, such as landscape pattern analysis. It is convenient to analyze landscape pattern with ArcGIS for its simple operation and friendly graphical user interface. In this paper, ArcGIS was applied to study the land use in Changping Town??Dongguan City in Guangdong province, China. We compiled the land use actuality landscape map and land use planning landscape map, and then calculated and analyzed some landscape metrics, such as area metrics, patch density and size metrics, shape metrics and diversity metrics. The result shows that the landscape structure and function in Changping Town tend to be improved after land use planning.