Large detail scale mapping from aerial orthophotos for understanding local-scale urban land use dynamics. The case of Madrid, Spain

  • Gabriel Gedda-Shaheen Complutense University of Madrid
  • Eduardo Caramés Observatorio para una Cultura del Territorio (Spain)
  • Jaime Díaz-Pacheco University of La Laguna https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7448-5870
  • Richard Hewitt Instituto de Economía, Geografía y Demografía (IEGD). Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) (Spain) https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4169-8647
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5209/aguc.99038
Keywords: land-use change, land-use map, photointerpretation, local-scale, land-use dynamics, urban development
Agencies: The work described here was initially developed under the European Union funded project INTRANCES (Ref 886050) and continued under a Ramón y Cajal Research Fellowship award (IMOSET project) from the State Research Agency (AEI) of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIN) 10.13039/501100011033 through the “ESF Investing in your future” funding framework. Richard J Hewitt also gratefully acknowledges funding provided under the FUTUREGREEN project, reference PID2023-152776OB-C21, by MICIU/AEI /10.13039/501100011033 and by FEDER, EU. The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Abstract

The Madrid Land Use project (MLUP) is an aerial photographic interpretation-based mapping program for the Madrid region, Spain, now available for five time periods: 2000, 2006, 2009, 2014 and 2020. In this paper we showcase the most recent updates for 2014 and 2020, using examples from the municipalities of Arganda del Rey, Campo Real and Rivas-Vaciamadrid. The updated geodatabase enhances our understanding of urban development trends and land use patterns. Broadly, development followed a simplistic template initiated by the construction of road infrastructure, later infilling with multi-family housing, retail and facilities. This pattern is highly dispersed, increasingly car dependent and energy and resource inefficient, and thus not aligned with environmental, climate or sustainability goals. The results of the MLUP show the continuing importance of large detail scale mapping from aerial orthophoto interpretation as an essential tool for understanding urban land use dynamics.

Author Biography

Eduardo Caramés, Observatorio para una Cultura del Territorio (Spain)



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Published
2025-07-17
How to Cite
Gedda-Shaheen, G., Caramés, E., Díaz-Pacheco, J., & Hewitt, R. (2025). Large detail scale mapping from aerial orthophotos for understanding local-scale urban land use dynamics. The case of Madrid, Spain. Anales de Geografía de la Universidad Complutense, 45(1), 53-73. https://doi.org/10.5209/aguc.99038
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Vol. 45 No. 1 (2025)
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Articles

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