Land Use Change of Las Vegas, Nevada Charles N. Hahn UP 507-W

Project Objectives Use satellite imagery along with other GIS datasets to show land use and population change for the Las Vegas Valley area over a substantial amount of time covering the beginning of Las Vegas to modern day The first resort opened in 1941and was called the El Rancho

Why Las Vegas? According to the U.S. Census Bureau LV is the fastest growing metropolitan area in the U.S. From 1990 to 2000 their population change was % This type of population growth can put a major strain on an area that is already a very dry region This amount of growth makes it a very exciting place to do land use/land cover analysis

Data 1972 MSS path 35 row 39 image 1992 MSS path 35 row 39 image 1999 ETM+ path 35 row 39 image USGS dem for the covered area consisting of 4 quad sheets Spreadsheets of population data from U.S. Census Bureau Tiger road files Personally collected GPS datasets for ground truth Many ArcInfo data sets from the Mojave Desert Ecosystem Program through a USGS contact including hotels, geological cover, vegetative cover, etc…

1972 MSS

1992 MSS

1999 ETM+

USGS dem

Geo age Tiger roads

soils Tiger roads

Population from U.S. Census

Flow Chart

Tools to be Used ArcGIS and ArcInfo for projections Intergraph MGE for GIS work Microstation for editing vector files Erdas Imagine for classification Virtual GIS to build a 3d flythrough ER Mapper for classification and 3d work Macromedia Flash, Freehand, Fireworks, Director, and Dreamweaver for Web design Adobe Photoshop for graphics work