Modeling of Spatial Distribution of Urban Population Density: A Case Study of Tianhe District, Guangzhou

High-resolution remote sensing data of Tianhe District of Guangzhou were used to extract the information of urban buildings by object-oriented method. The extracted information was classified into different kinds with reference to land use map of Guangzhou. On that basis the data of the residential buildings were used to estimate population density. Then an urban population distribution model was created. The operation of other existing population density models needs much time to extract building information from remote sensing images by manual work and can only be used for small scale of settlement. In this study,the efficiency of image classification and extraction of building information was greatly improved,and the accuracy of the model was higher than that in other existing researches. The simulation result indicates that the population density model can capture most typical features and interior differentiation of urban population distribution. The model and method in this study have advantages in accuracy,simplicity,availability and convenience for use.