Knowledge discovery of remotely sensed data from ecological viewA case study of urban spatial-temporal relationship in the pearl river delta

From the ecological viewpoint this paper discusses the urban spatial-temporal relationship. We take regional towns and cities as a complex man-land system of urban eco-community. This complex man-land system comprises two elements of “man” and “land”. Here, “man” means organization with self-determined consciousness, and “land” means the physical environment (niche) that “man” depends on. The complex man-land system has three basic components. They are individual, population and community. Therefore there are six types of spatial relationship for the complex man-land system. They are individual, population, community, man-man, land-land and man-land spatial relationships. Taking the Pearl(Zhujiang) River Delta as a case study, the authors found some evidence of the urban spatial relationship from the remote sensing data. Firstly, the concentration and diffusion of the cities spatial relationship was found in the remote sensing imagery. Most of the cities concentrate in the core area of the Pearl River Delta, but the diffusion situation is also significant. Secondly, the growth behavior and succession behavior of the urban spatial relationship was found in the remote sensing images comparison with different temporal data. Thirdly, the inheritance, break, or meeting emergency behavior was observed from the remote sensing data. Fourthly, the authors found many cases of symbiosis and competition in the remote sensing data of the Pearl River Delta. Fifthly, the autoeciousness, stranglehold and invasion behavior of the urban spatial relationship was discovered from the remote sensing data.