Introduction to Time Change and Spatial Dynamics

Change in Land Use/Cover Change (LUCC) is continuous especially in areas around urban developments. Changes are the result of many interacting processes. Each of these processes operates over a range of scales in space and time. Theses processes are driven by one or more of different variables that influence the actions of the agents of the change involved. These variables are called driving forces which underline the proximate cause of LUCC, such as deforestation or agricultural expansion. These driving factors include demographic factors, economic factors, technological factors, policy and institutional factors, cultural factors, and biophysical factors. Some of theses factors directly influence the rate and quantity of LUCC. Other factors determine the location of the LUCC, e.g. the suitability of soils for agricultural land use.

Considering that analysis is carried on Geographic information, changes may occur in the 3 components of the geographic information model: Thematic: changes in phenomenon properties; Geometric: changes in spatial feature identification and shape; Spatial (thematic + geometric): changes in spatial structure and pattern distribution (spatial distribution dynamics). Thus the original time dimension: is embedded into this 3 components.

Objectives of Time change analysis and Spatial dynamics are to explore, to model and to forecast distribution of changes in the real world.