Urban Growth Assessment Using Remote Sensing, GIS and Shannon’s Entropy Model: A Case Study of Bhilwara City, Rajasthan

Urban growth indicates rapid increasing in urban population, city significance level and economic expansion. The present and historical information is necessary in urban spatial analysis study and future urban growth planning. These fast urban sprawls require mapping and monitoring of urban area using geospatial and temporal imagery. This study examines and assesses urban expansion of Bhilwara city using Remote Sensing (RS) images and Geo-graphical Information System (GIS) with help of Shannon's entropy model. In this research, urban growth areas were mapped and analysed for a period of 64 years using Shannon's entropy by multi spatial and temporal RS data. The key advantages of RS data are its availability over large coverage area and to detect temporal changes. The Survey of India (Sol) toposheet and Landsat data (1972, 1981, 1991 & 2001), Liss-III (2011) and Sentinel 2B (2018) are used for preparation of GIS based outputs maps of the Bhilwara City and surrounding areas. The finding of this study will be helpful in the understanding the present and projecting the future growth scenario. Further, this study will also help in efficient planning for systematic and controlled urban sprawl in the study area.