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Evaluating Recreational Resources of South East Johar using Remotely Sensed Data

Shattri Mansor , Mohd Isa Mansor and Azmi Hassan
Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engnieering
University Pertanian Malaysia
43400 Serdang


Abstract
Land Evaluation for recreational land use is becoming more important in these days increasing numbers of people take part in recreational activities and the income from tourism is a welcome support to the economy of many countries including Malaysia . There for proper management of these resources is dearly needed a study has been undertaken to evaluate natural resources for recreational land use utilizing spot MSS data and aerial photo graphs case study Johar is presented.

1.0 introduction
Land evaluation is the process of estimating the potential of land for alternative kinds of use these include productive uses such as arable farming live stock production and forestry together with uses that provide services or other benefits such as recreation tourism and wild life conservation the basic feature of land evaluation is the comparison of the requirements of land use with resources offered by the land.

Recreation is frequently related to tourism . Tourism can be defined as those types of recreation for which one leaves the home environment for shorter or longer duration since the pressure on the recreational resources in increasing proper management to the resources is increasing proper management of these resources is needed . this can be best presented in a land evaluation procedure where earth resources information is indispensable in this inventory and analysis phase of such a procedure satellite image and air photo interpretation has been fully utilized

2.0. Identification of recreational resources
In land evaluation for recreation, the land utilization types are different types of recreation such as swimming, boating, orienteering, hiking, etc. and the land mapping unit can be interpreted for their recreational resources. The first task in this study is to identify what are the relevant recreational land utilization types and what are their requirements with respect to the characteristics of their land mapping units (resources). The preference types of recreation depends on the availability, accessibility of resources and facilities. It also depends on the socio-economic, cultural characteristics of a population and ‘lifestyles’.

There are several kinds of enquiry surveys on recreational preferences, mostly require a lot of time and effort. A more direct approach is to make an inventory of the number, type and capacity of all kinds of terrestrial or creational possibilities. From such an inventory a general impression can be obtained of what types of recreational activities occur in an area and what are their original resources.

In this study, natural features of the landscape is considered as resources for recreation. Certain man-made features such as reservoirs, dams, monuments, historical sites, etc. that can attract receptionist are also considered.

3.0 Methodology

3.1 Area of study
The study area covers southern tip of Johor which includes Johor river, straits of Johor and Tebraua, Pelentang, Sungai Tiram, Tebrau, Johor Bharu and Kota Tinggi (Fig, 1)


Figure 1 Study Area

3.2. Data
SPOT1 MSS data, aerial photographs and topographical maps was used in this study. Aerial photographs and maps were obtained from the Department of Surveying and Mapping. The satellite image was processed using Sun 3 Image Processing System.

3.3 Geometric rectification
The sub scene was rectified to match with the map projection. The following relationship was used for this purpose where E is the Easting (Longitude), N is the Northing (Latitude), S is the scan line number and P is the pixel Number of the SPOT scene.

E=E0 + E1P + E2S + E3P2 +E4PS + E5S2 (1)

E=N0 + N1P+ N2S +N3P2 + N4PS + N5S2 (2)

The coordinates of ground control points which are well defined an the image were used to determine the values of the coefficient E0, E1,......E2, N0, N1.........N5 in these equations.

3.3. Image Classifications
The rectified image was classified using the supervised pattern recognition method. These are parallel piped, minimum distance and maximum likelihood. From the classified image of the study area, it was found that four types of natural resources can readily identified related to recreational and tourism. These are estuarine, mangrove, beaches and forest. Air photo interpretation was done for verification purposes.

Most of the beaches in the study are lie along the coast of Straits of johor and part of the Straits Od Tebrau. The largest estuarine is the Johor river estuarine which meets the Straits of johor. There are also pockets of mangrove swamps reserve along the river estuaries, especially along the Johor river. Forest reserves are situated at Tiram river, Seeili Keciland Sedili Besar.

4.0 Approach to land evaluation for recreation
Since all the above mentions factor are not equal importance for tourism,, relative weight was assigned for each of them

The factors used are:
  • Availability of natural; resources
  • accessibility
  • qualities of the resources
4-1 Availability o natural resources
Area which have four identified natural resources are given the highly weight . Table 1 summarized the areas weighs their corresponding resources. Areas which are furthest away from the natural resources are assigned the least weight.

Table 1 Weighting with respect to availability of natural resources
Area Natural Resources Weight
Kg. Plentong Mangrove / Beach 4
Kg. Sg. Rinting Mangrove 2
Pulau Juling Mangrove / Beach / Forest 6
Kg. Senibong None 1
Johor Lama Forest 2
Pulau Linnnau Mangrove 2
Kg. Perigi Acheh Mangrove / Beach / Forest / Estuary 8

4.2 Accessibility
Accessibility is another factor that will determine in what degree recreational use can actually be made. It can be associated with the concentration of local population. It is assumed that where there is a concentration of local population , the infrastructure will at its best. The urban centers afford the greatest concentration of facilities (such as road, parking, airfields, public activities). Using the remotely sensed data, the urban areas can be easily identified. For the purpose of weighting, the acreage of the identified spot is determined. The larger the acreage, the higher the weight will be assigned. For the study area, the largest acreage of urban area belongs to Johor Bharu, Kota Tinggi and Ulu Tiram.

4.3 Qualities of the environment
Remote sensing technique is capable of identifying the sources and monitor the spatial extend of a pollution incident and to study the concentration, flow and dispersal of pollutant. Johor river carries most of the pollutants. This is true due to the fact that most of the oil palm factories are situated at the upstream of the river, near Kota Tinggi. To some extend the polluted water discharge through Johor river affected the quality of the Johor Straits, especially at the estuary near Tg. Surat and Tg. Lang sat.

Considering all the above mentioned pollutant extent, least weight are assigned to all area along the banks of Johor river. Table 2 summarizes the weighting with respect to the distance from the polluted area.

Table 2 Weighting with respect to distance from polluted area
Area Weight
Tg. Lang sat 1
Tg. Surat 1
Batu Air 2
Teluk Sengat 2
Kong Kong 4

5.0. Results and discussion
A composite map which reveals areas where the combination factors support or discourage new recreational or tourism development is prepared by aggregating all factors. The composite map produced will be in the form of colors which shows different potential of recreational and tourism development (Fig.2 and Fig. 3).From this map, analysis can be made as to identify which area represents the most promising for tourism related development.


Figure 2 Poligon indicating potential area for tourism related development


Figure 3 Circles indicate the potential of a particular spot for tourism related development

From Fig. 3, it can be concluded that the most promising site for recreational and tourist related development is along the Straits of Johor, recreational and tourist related development is along the Straits of Johor. Other areas such as along the Johor Bharu- Kota Tinggi highway also poses a high potential for development. If the weight of the pollution is neglected, the highest potential for tourism related development is sited along the coast of the Straits of Johor especially near the Kong Kong river. The river bank of Johor river will also receive a high potential rate.

6.0 Conclusions
Land evaluation procedures can be very useful in providing the necessary information for proper planning and management of recreational resources. These procedures are found to be much more efficient when satellite imagery and air photo interpretation were used in the inventory and analysis phase.

7.0 References
  • Azmi Hassan and Shattri Mansor (1989) : ‘Identification of Tourist Area From Remotely Sensed Data’, Proc. Int. Conference on Engineering and Tourism, Melaka.
  • Cracknell, A.P., (1981) : ‘Remote Sensing in Meteorology, Oceanography and Hydrology’, John Wiley and Sons.
  • Dent, D. et. al. (1981): ‘Soil Survey and Land Evaluation ‘, George Allen and Unwin (publishers) Ltd.
  • JICA (1988) : ‘Malaysia : The study of a Comprehensive National Tourism Development Plan in Malaysia’, Interim Report 1 and 2.
  • Zee, D. Van der (1986) : ‘Analysis and Evaluation of Recreational Resources with aid of Remote Sensing’, Proc. of Symposium on Remote Sensing for Resources Development and Environmental Management, Enschede.