Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Modeling Earth Systems and Environment https://doi.org/10.1007/s40808-018-0478-1 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Quantitative land evaluation based on fuzzy-multi-criteria spatial model for sustainable land-use planning Mohamed A. E. AbdelRahman 1  · Adel Shalaby 1  · E. F. Essa 2 Received: 6 February 2018 / Accepted: 23 May 2018 © Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract Evaluating land according to its suitability and soil mapping is an important contribution for agricultural land use planning. Therefore FAO system was used to produce suitability sub classes for horticultural and feld crops. Land capability map was produced at a scale of 1:10,000 using soil information according to USDA criteria. All attributed insight analysis were ranked according to them priority and performed with analysis criteria to provide the spatial extent of soil suitability and capability. Also a new dimension was added in the spatial model to determine capability index for soil suitability to difer- ent irrigation methods. The overall accuracy of used spatial model is 89% and the validation was carried out through feld work. The signifcance of the created model for mapping is being at a detailed survey level. The landforms were mapped using SRTM combined with sentinel satellite image of the studied area. Accordingly landforms were represented by 33 soil profles collected in 2015. Another 32 auger profle samples were dug to identify the boundaries among landform units. The capability units were produced in association with geomorphology units. The study shows that 662.4 km 2 (33%), 715.9 km 2 (35.6%), 85.8 km 2 (4.3%), 25.4 km 2 (1.3%), 490.6 km 2 (24.4%) and 30.0 km 2 (1.5%) of the area were categorized in II, III, IV, and V, VI (sand dunes and quarries (and VII (Rock outcrops) land classes respectively. The produced suitability sub- classes demonstrates that the land use must be planned for according to identifed land capability classes (LCC) to maximize agricultural productivity and sustain the land resources for future generations. Keywords Land capability · Land forms · Soil data · Spatial analysis · Land use planning Introduction Proper productivity and its sustainability require appropri- ate management of land resources. To develop a sustain- able management plan requires identifying a specifc factor for agricultural production using a selected land evaluation system. Spatial modeling provides a good platform for inte- gration of multi-criteria factors to obtain a single product. Land is a limited valuable resource; therefore a wise man- agement should be strictly applyed for the maximum avails (Panhalkar 2011; Panhalkar et al. 2014; AbdelRahman et al. 2017). FAO land evaluation (LE) procedure and USDA land capability classifcation (LCC) were utilized for quantitative land evaluation (QLE) for soil site suitability. Land suit- ability (LS) has been used to assess suitability subclasses for diferent crops and hence, help in generating cropping pattern. LE is following a scientifc procedure used to assess land constraints and its potential for agricultural purposes (Rossiter 1996; FAO 2007). LE is a useful tool to identify a specifc part of land for specifc crops to attain highest pos- sible yield (Elsheikh 2015). LE is the process stablished to predict land performance over time depending on particular kinds of uses (Van Diepen et al. 1991; Rossiter 1996; FAO 2007). These estimated predictions are the guide used in the strategic land use decision making (Mohammd et al. 2011). Therefore, soil resource inventories are the primarily tra- ditional bases for LE, obtained through soil surveys. Land forms and features are afecting soils and infuence their geo- morphic evolution (Schaetzl and Anderson 2005). Detailed soil properties in association with land forms units are initially used mainly to match the requirement of diferent crop production systems i.e.(crops, fertilization, rotations, * Mohamed A. E. AbdelRahman maekaoud@gmail.com; maekaoud@narss.sci.eg 1 National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences, Cairo, Egypt 2 National Research Center, Dokki, Egypt