Study on the effects of Grand Canal on city pattern change of Hangzhou based on Remote Sensing

In the past thousands of years, the Grand Canal not only promoted political, economic and cultural development in China, but also formed the pattern of cities which lie along the canal called ldquoCanal Citiesrdquo. To comprehend the relationship between the city and the canal can benefit the urban planning and development. Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System technology enable us to analyze the spatio-temporal change effectively. In this study, we employ aero photographs taken in 1955 and SPOT5 images taken in 2002 as data resources. We integrates Wallis filter, visual and object-oriented interpretation, and buffer analysis. Proper models and indices were adopted for presenting the concrete city pattern change characteristics in both temporal and spatial scale. The results show that there is strong correlation between the canal and the city, and that the city development was guided by the Grand Canal. The information is necessary for the urban planning, management and policy-making, and can be used for reference by other ldquoCanal Citiesrdquo.