Elaboration of recent land use scenarios using Google Earth images

Abstract

Searching for new alternatives to elaborate recent cartographic representations that composes land use temporal series, this study aimed to evaluate the potentialities of Google Earth images. Two applications of these images are presented. The first study was accomplished in a watershed localized in Pelotas – Brazil, which embraces urban and rural environments. The second example of these images application was developed in the study of land use dynamic in Americana – Brazil, predominantly urbanized. Google Earth images, in general, were appropriate to the elaboration of recent land use cartographic representations, in both applications. The elaboration of recent land use scenarios was essential to establish a temporary series to identify the socioeconomic dynamics of the analyzed areas. It is pointed out that tools available on web, like Google Earth, are important alternatives, increasingly associated to the perspectives of geographical studies.