Land Use Patterns and Economic Development of Ikeja in Lagos State, Nigeria: The Geographic Information System Approach

Abstract

Population growth has led to high demand for residential and commercial land use. GIS has become a powerful tool for generating and analysing geographic features. This study obtaines and analyzes varying land use patterns in Ikeja,
local government area, Lagos State, Nigeria. In it, existing maps, aerial photographs and high resolution satellite imagery and data acquired with hand held GPS were used in analysing the changes that have occurred in the use of land in the study area from 1962 - 2004. AutoCAD 2006 was used in digitizing
and geo-referencing while ArcView and ArcGIS 9.2 were used in overlaying and analysing of the land use pattern. The research found out that the airport area that occupies 2.5% of land use coverage rose to 22.88% in 1994 and 22.84% in 2004. The Built up area rose from 6.55% in 1962 to 63.90% in 1994 and to 67.99% in 2004. Vegetation cover decreased from 65.23% in 1962 to 6.43%, 5.97% in 1994 and 2004 respectively. Undeveloped area decreased from 25.68% in 1962 to 6.79% in 1994 and 3.20% in 2004. It is recommended among others that government and other stakeholders should monitor land-use pattern in Lagos for effective utilization.