Advances in Computational Research, ISSN: 0975–3273, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2009, pp-10-13 Copyright © 2009, Bioinfo Publications, Advances in Computational Research, ISSN: 0975–3273, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2009 Application of remote sensing and geographic information system to study land use / land cover changes: a case study of Pune Metropolis Desai C.G. 1 , Patil M.B. 2 , Mahale V.D. 3 and Umrikar B. 4 1 MCA Department, MIT Engineering College, Aurangabad, chitrag_desai@yahoo.com 2 Department of Computer Science, University of Pune, Pune, manishap6@gmail.com 3 Department of Geology, University of Pune, Pune, mahalevishwas@yahoo.co.in 4 Department of Geology, University of Pune, Pune, bnumrikar@unipune.ernet.in Abstract- Due to the rapid course of urbanization, the haphazard growth of major cities is one of the challenging situations in front of any country. As unorganized urbanization is becoming the major problem, it requires the immediate solution for sustainable development of urban land. In the emerging scenario it is essential to have updated information on urban growth patterns and its impact on the living environment. The growth and development of cities are likely to continue and therefore there will be a need for proper planning and managing or improving the existing infrastructure facilities. In this juncture, the state of the art technologies Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) can play an imperative role. Pune metropolis is one such rapidly developing city in Maharashtra. This paper explores the study of Urbanization growth of Pune city using RS data and GIS. Keywords- Remote Sensing, Geographic Information system, urbanization, land use, Land cover, town planning Introduction Human is the most progressive creature on the earth. For his progress he has made many changes on this earth such as Industrialization, Urbanization etc. had take place. In this competitive world he has migrated himself from rural area to urban cities. Due to this there is huge increase in day by day population in urban cities vis-à-vis there is a huge demand for dwelling places and hence there is huge increment in the growth rate of these cities. This has raised the urban expansion problem all over the world. Growing cities are creating an alarming situation in all countries of the world. Due to the rapid process of urbanization, the haphazard growth of these major cities is one of the challenging situations in front of any country. Many developing countries are facing the critical problems like population growth, poverty and income distribution; unemployment; urbanization and internal migration; agriculture and rural development; and quality education. Among these problems urbanization is becoming the major problem now a days and it requires the immediate solution for sustainable development of urban land. Urbanization, which may be broadly defined as the process of expanding urban influence, has been taking place for more than 6000 years, has increased markedly since the beginning of this century. One distinctive feature of India’s urbanization is increasing metropolitanization. India’s big cities now account for a large share of total urban population. In 2001, the share of metropolitan cities was 37.8 % up from 32.5% in 1991 and 26.4% in 1981[1]. The trend indicates continued urbanization and metropolitanization in the years to come. It clearly implies that with rapid growth of million plus cities, the problem of land management will be more and more complex as the years pass by. The forces and processes of technological development, globalization and population growth accelerate the dynamics of urbanization process in the developing countries. This “accelerated” phase of urban transition from rural to urban population in developing countries, population from migration and endogenous growth of those large primate cities and industrial location on their fringes are actually expanding the urban areas. This is mainly due to the rapid growth in the IT sector. Although, IT industry in India has more than three decades of history, its take-off into major software industries is a recent phenomenon [2]. Not all cities in India were able to respond quickly to the demands of these new service industries. This is evident from the fact that the larger Metros of India (Mumbai, Delhi, and Kolkata) have not been as successful as the second rung of cities i.e. Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune and Chennai. Pune, the eighth highly populated metropolitan city of India is undergoing a rapid metamorphism, which would be the interest part of study and hence an attempt has been made. In this juncture, the state of the art technologies Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) can play an imperative role. Remote Sensing is broadly defined as science of acquiring information about a physical phenomenon of an object or surface of the earth measured at a distance without being in physical contact with the object of interest [7]. Geographic Information System is a system of hardware, software and procedures designed to support the capture, management, manipulation, analysis, modeling and display of spatially referenced data for solving complex planning and management problems. [6]