Modeling Earth Systems and Environment (2018) 4:517–526

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40808-018-0462-9

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Detection and impact of land encroachment in El-Beheira

governorate, Egypt
Ahmed A. Afifi1 · Khaled M. Darwish2

Received: 29 December 2017 / Accepted: 5 April 2018 / Published online: 10 April 2018
© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018

Abstract
Mainly, the high fertile land of Egypt is limited and threatened by the problem of land dwindling. In this context, three
temporal satellite imagers were utilized to generalize the land cover changes. This is to reliable monitoring the urban sprawl
changes and its action on farming area in El-Beheira governorate, Egypt, after the revolution of January 25th. The two
algorithms of supervised maximum likelihood and post-classification change detection were implemented through cross
tabulation for monitoring the urban sprawl to achieve change detection. Implementing ancillary data, digital interpretation and
the area expert knowledge further refined the classification results. GIS utilities assist to argue out the risk of urban expan-
sion at the expense of highly productive units. The output results showed that the rapid imbalance changes occurred among
three land cover classes (urban, desert and cultivated land). During the (1985–2013) period, the urban land cover area was
increased from 137.9 to 579.4 km2 (23.8%). Nevertheless, in just 3 years (2010–2013) urban sprawl expanded from 381.9 to
579.4 km2 (65.9%) as a total loss of cultivated land, during the insecure situation of the 25th revolution. Exclusively, these
changes strengthened the land fragmentation processes over the green land as a result of urban encroachment. Information
on urban growth, land use/cover change are essential for local government and urban planners for the amelioration of future
sustainable development.

Keywords Encroachment on land · Change detection · Land cover · Remote sensing · GIS

Introduction food production, i.e. extension of green areas through hori-

Food protection and continuous loss of cultivated land are
issues of the Egyptian government concern. Out of the entire
Egyptian territory, only 5.5% is considered to be agricultural
land, where the highest population densities concentrated
in the Nile delta and valley (Abd El-Kawy et al. 2011). The
principal purpose is to control Egypt’s predominating unfa-
vorable population to agricultural land ratio. The Egyptian
government adopted policies endeavor to independence in
* Khaled M. Darwish
kdarwish@hotmail.com
Ahmed A. Afifi
a.afifinrc@gmail.com
1
Soils and Water Use Department, National Research Centre
(NRC), Dokki, Giza, Egypt
2
Land and Water Technologies Dept., Arid Lands
Cultivation Research Inst., City for Scientific Research
and Technological Applications, Borg El‑Arab, Alexandria,
Egypt
zontal expansion and maximization of land production. This
policy aims at diminishing the pressure on old and highly
productive farming land, reducing population density in the
habitation areas and lowering pollution origins by estab-
lishing manufacturing zones outside the delta and valley.
Therefore, determining the rate and trend of land cover con-
version is a fundamental issue for the current and future
development plans that establish rational land cover policies.
Urban encroachment and land degradation are the pri-
mary motivating forces of ground use/cover changes in the
Nile delta region. Urbanization is an inescapable process
due to economic development and uncontrolled population
growth. Encroachment of urban parcels on agricultural land
may pose dire consequences (Hegazy et al. 2008; Shalaby
and Gad 2010).
For this purpose, the temporal dynamic utilities of remote
sensing data can play an significant role in observing and
analyzing land cover changes. Latterly, issues regarding
land-cover changes have attracted the interest of those who
model geospatial and temporal land conversion patterns to

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518
those who want to understand the reasons and impact of land
cover changes (Keshtkar and Voigt 2016b; Wu et al. 2008).
Recent and precise land cover change information is indis-
pensable to comprehend both human influences and envi-
ronmental effects of such alterations that is in turn assisting
in natural resource management (Shalaby and Moghanm
2015). Up-to date and precise land use/cover detection is
a continuing demand for sustainable assessment, where it
operates as one of the master input criteria. As a result, prop-
erly geospatial mapping land use/cover alteration as well
as temporal detection have has been appreciated by several
research studies for the decision making activities (Deng
et al. 2005).
Urban sprawl causes wastage of agrarian land with con-
sequences of material changes on agricultural ecosystems
(Jain et al. 2016). Change detection, analysis, planning and
urban expansion can be achieved using multi-spatial and
temporal remotely sensed data (Yikalo and Pedro 2010).
The process of change detection investigates the state differ-
ences of a phenomenon or an object by remotely mentoring
it at various time series. It is indicated and/or characterizing
changes in land use features based on co-registered multi-
temporal remote sensing information. The basic assump-
tion in using imagery data is that the process can identify
changes between different dates that is uncharacteristic of
normal fluctuation. A number of researchers have addressed
the point of accurately monitoring land-cover/use change
in a broad environmental diversity (Almutairi and Warner
2010). From the literature point, numerous investigations
and publications have been proposed to discuss land change
detection in arid and semi-arid environment (Lenney et al.
1996; El Bastawesy et al. 2013a; Hassan and Omran 2017).
The mentioned reviews reported that urban development
commonly occurs through the deduction of cultivated land.
There are abundant techniques applicable to detect and reg-
ister differences (e.g., image differencing, ratios or correla-
tion) and these supposedly attributable to land cover changes
(Yuan et al. 1999; Maldonado et al. 2002; Deng et al. 2008;
Hegazy and Kaloop 2015).
Nevertheless, the straightforward change detection of
modification is rarely sufficient. Generally, more informa-
tion is needed concerning the primary and eventual land
use/cover types and the ‘from–to’ analysis (Khorram et al.
1999). The techniques of post-classification and comparison
of derived thematic maps go beyond plain change detection
and endeavor to assess the different change types. The suc-
cess depends mainly upon the reliability of the image clas-
sification and land cover maps.
In general, large scale changes, i.e., considerable urban
development or widespread logging might be portrayed sim-
ply, whereas evolutional changes in term of, erosion, suc-
cession, colonization or degradation, the main boundaries
may be indistinct and classified-labels uncertainty (Khorram
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Modeling Earth Systems and Environment (2018) 4:517–526
et al. 1999; Shalaby and Tateishi 2007). Definitely, analyzing
and quantifying the actual extent and geospatial distribution
of land use/cover is an importance matter to environmental
change at various scales. Several investigations were per-
formed focusing on the urban expansion impact on ecol-
ogy, environment, ecosystem and natural resources (Selvam
2012; Kumar and Rajput 2013).
The research is to propose a methodology to discover
and assess the urban sprawl hazard and its influence on agri-
cultural land in El-Beheira governorate, using satellite data
in integration with GIS utilities. Furthermore, designing a
model to predict urban sprawl based on chronological series
and population growth. Therefore, multi-spectral satellite
images of the study area over a period of three decades
have been chosen to explicate the variations in land cover
phenomena.
Materials and methods
Study area
Regionally, El-Beheira is one of the largest costal governo-
rate that located mainly in the west of the Nile delta. From
the geographical point of view, it is situated between lati-
tudes 29°56′ to 31°29′N and longitudes 29°32′ to 30°49′E.
El-Beheira governorate is bordered by the Mediterranean
Sea to north and Giza governorate to south, while it is
aligned by Rosetta Nile branch in the east and Alexandria
and El-Alamein governorates in the west (Fig. 1). It has a
total area of about 9826 km2, population of 4.43 million
inhabitants, which corresponds to 441 person/km 2 as a
population density. Elevation ranges from 1 m to 69 m a.s.l,
with higher elevations concentrated in the southwestern part,
where El-Tawheed village is located.
Officially administrated, it contains 13 districts, 14 towns,
77 local units, 470 villages and 5333 hamlets (Ezba), while
Damanhur is the capital city. El-Beheira is a major agricul-
tural governorate, with an agricultural area occupies about
14.9% of the entire cultivated land in Egypt. It is estimated
that there are about 315,000 ha (750,000 feddans) that could
be reclaimed in different districts. The basic man made fea-
tures in the study area is the Cairo-Alexandria agricultural
road, which cross and split it into two divisions. The domi-
nant climate condition of the west Nile delta region is arid
Mediterranean, which is characterized by less precipitation.
The mean annual rainfall less than 200 mm and the tempera-
ture ranges from 9 °C in winter to 30 °C during summer
with °C a maximum of around 45 °C (Eladawy et al. 2013).
Agricultural activities in El-Beheira are characterized by
small farm holdings with an average of 1.5 ha. The soil par-
ent material is mainly clayey. The main summer crops are
cotton, maize and rice, while the winter crops are basically
Modeling Earth Systems and Environment (2018) 4:517–526
Fig. 1  Location of the study
area
wheat and the Egyptian clover, which is for cattle feeding.
Field irrigation is implemented by subdividing the field into
small portions (AbdelRahman et al. 2017).
Data and maps
Collection of primary data sources includes soil map of
Egypt (ASRT 1982), topographic-sheets (scale 1:50,000)
and multispectral Landsat images TM and ­ETM+, for the
years 1985, 2010 and 2013. The secondary data sources
include demographic data out of the Egyptian Packing
and Statistics Center (primary census abstracts for the
years 1992, 1996, and 2012). In addition, number of 11
519
Topographic maps (scale 1:50,000) covering the area under
investigation, generated by the Egyptian General Survey
Authority (EGSA) in 2011, were rectified and converted to
a digital format.
Methodology framework
The methodology consists of analyzing data of differ-
ent times derived from satellite images to combine urban
land use maps with data on soil properties contained in
the established soil database using the geographic infor-
mation system (GIS). The integration of GIS technology
and remote sensing imagery proved to be an efficient
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technique for analysis and mapping of urban land use
change (Chen et al. 2003). Some concepts from SOTER
modelling (Van Engelen and Wen 1995) were borrowed
to structure a database for evaluation and spatial anal-
ysis. In this database, two kinds of information can be
distinguished: (1) geometrical data out of soil map and
urban sprawl by interpretation of satellite image, i.e. the
location and domain of an object exemplified by a point,
line, surface and topology (shapes, neighbors and deline-
ations hierarchy), and (2) attributed data, i.e. the object
characteristics. The two types of information exist in the
established database are consisting of a geometric com-
ponent that indicates the location and topology of the
mapping units, and of an attributed section that describes
the characteristics of non-spatial mapping unit. This study
requested knowledge combination from different fields
of soil science, geography geoinformatics to comprehend
the impact of land use/land cover change on urban sprawl
detection (Fig. 2).
Fig. 2  Model framework adopted for analyzing variation detection in response to land use/land cover change
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Modeling Earth Systems and Environment (2018) 4:517–526
Image acquisition and pre‑processing
In this research, temporal coverage Landsat TM and
ETM + images from 1985 to 2013 with a standard spatial
resolution of 30 × 30 m were acquired from the (USGS)
Geologic Survey archive (http://earth​explo​rer.usgs.gov/).
Precise per-pixel registration of multi-temporal satellite
data is essential for change detection since registration errors
could be misinterpreted as land changes. Basically, the RMS
error between any two dates should not exceed 0.5 pixels
(Lunetta and Elvidge 1998). Images with an error less than
a half-pixel were registered (about 15 m). In this regard,
geometric correction was done using specific ground control
points from topographic maps to geocode the 1984 dated
image, which was base to register all other images.
The RMS error between different images was minimal
than 0.4 pixels, which was acceptable. On the other hand,
the PCI which state for the Geomatica ATCOR model
was applied for the image pre-analysis process of atmos-
pheric correction (Richter and Schlapfer 2013). Atmos-
pheric and terrain effects were eliminated to determine
the true ground reflectance of earth’s surface. This model
Modeling Earth Systems and Environment (2018) 4:517–526
requires data, some of which is obtainable in the metadata
file. Atmospheric location area was set up as rural area
and atmospheric condition was identified as mid-latitude
summer.
Image classification
Mostly, image classification is an important process in cap-
turing detailed information about land-cover. The model
used in this investigation operates in two steps. At the first
step, we compared several methods that are considered to
be suitable for land-use image classification. Training sam-
ples were selected for the training process. After selection,
different classification algorithms were performed to create
the classified maps. Ultimately, accuracy of the classified
maps was validated not only by visual observation, but also
by cross-validation statistical methods (Kappa coefficient
and overall accuracy). The second step engaged classifying
all satellite images (1985, 2010, and 2013) using the best
classification technique identified in the first step. Eventu-
ally, all classified images undergo an accuracy calculation
evaluation.
Supervised classification was accomplished using ground
observation points and digital format topographic maps of
the study area. The accuracy assessment was performed
using 300 points from field data and standing land cover
maps. With a view to rise the accuracy of urban land cover
class, the visual interpretation result and subsidiary data
were integrated together with the classification result using
a GIS utility (Meshesha et al. 2016).
Digital soil mapping
In this study, soil map was generated out of the archived soil
map of Egypt that produced by the Academy of Scientific
Research and Technology (ASRT 1982); the original termi-
nology of soil order, suborder and great groups have been
updated according to the latest Keys to Soil Taxonomy, 12th
edition (2014). Obviously, after edge matching, there was a
recognized deviation between the produced maps and the
well registered landmarks, driven out of the resources maps
and images. The obvious deviation has been attributed to
the lack of recognized coordinate system and the rubber-
sheeting escort the edge-matching task. Therefore, a spatial
adjustment conversion has been carried out. Precise rectified
topographic maps and accurate geo-referenced satellite data
have been utilized to establish the transformation process
using ArcGIS platform. A semi detailed survey approach
was done throughout the study area in order to gain an esti-
mation on soil patterns, available land forms and landscape
features.
521
Urban sprawl detection
Regardless of the technique applied, the achieve of imagery
change detection basically depend on the nature of the
change involved, success of the image processing and the
classification functions. In the area under concern, field
observations have shown that the change in land cover
between the three dates was clearly marked and abrupt. In
this study, post-classification change detection procedure
was applied. Considerably, post-classification is the most
evident technique of change detection that requires compari-
son of independently generated classified images. Post-clas-
sification comparison proved to be the most effective tech-
nique, because data from two dates are separately classified,
thereby diminishing the problem of atmospheric correction
normalization and sensor variations between different dates
(Bayramov et al. 2016). The analysis of cross-tabulation was
performed to project the geospatial distribution of urban
sprawl areas on different soil types (Parsa et al. 2016). Fig-
ure 2 demonstrate the modeling approach that implemented
in the study methodology.
Results and discussion
Soil map of El‑Beheira governorate
Originally, soil map of El-Beheira was produced from the
soil map of Egypt (ASRT 1982). The generated map has
been updated according to the Keys to Soil Taxonomy, 12th
Edition (2014) (Fig. 3). The obtained results demonstrate
that the Vertic Torrifluvents is the major sub great group in
the alluvial region. It covers an area of 3026.15 km2, which
is representing 47.78% of the soils.
The Typic Torripsamments and Typic Torrifluvents
sub-great groups interfere with the previous one within
the alluvial landscape that covering an area of 550.04 and
428.77 km2, and representing 8.68 and 6.77% severally. The
sub-great group Typic Haplocalsids covers significant areas
around Idko and Mariout lakes, with a total of 536.74 km2
(8.47%) of the total area. Limited patches of sub-great
groups Typic Aquisalids, Typic Haplosalids and Typic Cal-
cigypsids interfere with Typic Haplocalsids covering areas
of 28.01, 72.25 and 1.80 km2 that are representing 0.44,
1.14 and 0.03%. The sub-great group of Typic Quartizip-
samments covers an area of 994.39 km2 (15.7% of the soils)
and located at the southwestern borders of the governorate,
adjacent to the areas of sand dunes. It is also interfered by
the sub-great group Typic Torriorthents, which exists in lim-
ited patches having an area of 107.25 km2 that represents
1.69% of the total soil area. The shifting sand dunes cover an
area of 430.96 km2 (6.80%), while sand dunes cover an area
of 149.70 km2 (2.36%) (Table 1). Nevertheless, the urban
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Fig. 3  Soil map of study area
overlaid with thematic layers
settlement covered an area of 137.9 km2 representing 1.2%
of El-Beheira governorate in 1985, which in turn increased
to 579.4 km2 (5.1%) in 2013 (Table 2).
Encroachment on land in El‑Beheira governorate
Land-cover change (LCC) maps were created using a multi-
date Landsat images of 1985, 2010, and 2013. In order to
map urban settlement, a false color composites (FCC 432)
were composed and applied for image processing, as well
as on screen visual interpretation. The urban settlement of
El-Beheira governorate in 1985, 2010 and 2013 were repre-
sented together to show urban sprawl as shown in Fig. 4. In
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Modeling Earth Systems and Environment (2018) 4:517–526
order to examine the impact of urban sprawl on agricultural
land loss in El-Beheira, ArcGIS 10.4 was used for the inte-
gration of geospatial data analysis. The urban thematic lay-
ers were overlaid on top of the generated soil map to check
the urban settlement expansions in respect to the expense of
farming land.
Statistically, the effect of urban sprawl was estimated and
the obtained actual change from 1985 to 2013 and the real
impact on different soil types was illustrated in Table 2. The
change detection results illustrated that, the most significant
change occurred from 1985 to 2013, which was caused by
the expansion of urban areas. Analysis of LCCs indicate
that, during this time period, the built-up areas increased
Modeling Earth Systems and Environment (2018) 4:517–526 523

Table 1  Areas and frequencies of soil sub-great groups in El-Beheira in the past two decades has been speedy. This proposes that
governorate natural land affected by human activities is rapidly trans-
Type (sub great group) Area ­(km2) % forming and being damaged.
Plainly, the urban sprawl during the 1985–2010 was at
Typic Aquisalids 28.01 0.44
the expense of the most productive soils where, the lost
Typic Calcigypsids 1.80 0.03
Vertic Torrifluvents area is 247.1 km2 (2.26% of the entire
Typic Haplocalsids 536.74 8.47
area) and the Typic Torrifluvents lost 32.7 km2 (0.3% of the
Typic Quartizipsamments 994.39 15.70
total area). Most of the urban expansion over the fertile soils
Typic Haplosalids 72.25 1.14
occurred from 1985 to 2010-time period. From 1985 to 2010
Typic Torrifluvents 428.77 6.77
the Vertic Torrifluvents, soils lost relatively small areas (i.e.,
Typic Torriorthents 107.25 1.69
60.3 km2) compared to 186.8 km2 during 2010–2013 period.
Typic Torripsamments 550.04 8.68
This expansion of urban areas over agricultural land can
Vertic Torrifluvents 3026.15 47.78
cause a decrease at the effectiveness of rural areas as a buffer
Consolidated rocky ridge 7.79 0.12
zone between agricultural and urban ground, which may
High dune 430.96 6.80
increase the environmental influence represented by land
Sand dune 149.70 2.36
degradation and diversity loss (Bajocco et al. 2012).
Total 6333.85 100.00

Land requisition system

Table 2  Change detection coverage areas for 1985–2013 For the expansion and the change of the land use/land cover,
Land use/cover 1985 ­(km )2
2010 ­(km ) 2
2013 ­(km )2 it is obvious that the encroachment not only in the agricul-
tural domain, but likewise over the River Nile as seen in
Urban 137.90 381.93 579.40 Figs. 6 and 7 and Table 3, where the fish farms increased up
Cultivated 4556.40 6665.55 7755.61 to 203.04 km2 in 2010 with an annual rate 4.9 yearly, during
Fish-farms 4.39 102.04 78.47 the period 1985–2010. However, during the 25th revolution,
Lake 47.74 50.19 40.42 the increase rate was 23.6 km2/year with a 30.04% increase
Sand-beach 112.34 14.04 15.36 of the total fish farm areas. This gain may cause the envi-
Desert 6581.68 4252.86 2997.08 ronmental pollution in the River Nile due to the excessive
Sum 11440.45 11466.61 11466.35 use of artificial feeds and additives. Moreover, the absence
of security during the 25th revolution, led attack the state
property of the desert lands (land requisition system), which
from 137.9 to 381.93 km2 (with a rate of 9.8 km2/year). undoubtedly could cause the wasting valuable riches of the
While, from 2010 to 2013, the built up area increased from land. The desert areas, decreased by 2328.82 km2 with
381.93 to 579.4 km2 (with a rate of 65.8 km2/ year). rate 93.2 km2/year that represents 35.4% during the period
(1985–2010). Nevertheless, during the period (2010–2013)
Post‑classification comparisons the land decrease was 1255.8 km2, with annual rate around
418.6 km2/year, which representing 41.9%.
In spite of the obvious increase in cultivated land, the urban
land was continuously increased, and the lake and sand-
beach were continuously decreased. Nevertheless, desert Conclusion
areas decreased significantly from 57.52 to 26.14% during
1985–2013, with a rate of 93.2 km2/ year during the time The elementary concern of the current research is that
period from 1985 to 2010 and from 2010 to 2013 with a continuing urban encroachment in El-Beheira could imply
rate 418.6 km2/year. During 2010–2013, fish-farms area potential threats to the highly productive agricultural land.
decreased from 0.89 to 0.68%. In addition, the lakes cover- Their topics should be strictly firm and strong legal actions
age was reduced a bit from 0.44 to 0.35% in the same time against any form of land violation processes upon these fer-
period. The expanse of water lakes increased a little from tile farm and non-renewable natural resource.
1985 to 2010 (Fig. 5). The authors reasoned that the lack and absence of secu-
Figure 4 illustrates just the static state of each phenom- rity and management control were the major factors affecting
enon in 1985, 2010, and 2013. Table 2 describes the sum- the urban encroachment over the agricultural estate, and on
marized specific (from-to) change information based on the desert land with especial respect during the 25th January
post-classification, comparison to determine (from–to) tran- revaluation. Accession to the Nile and lake water. Thus, it is
sitions. The work demonstrates that land-cover urbanization a thoughtful call to the government to establish and ensure a

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Fig. 4  Time series of detailed land-cover change detection maps for 1985, 2010 and 2013

13
Modeling Earth Systems and Environment (2018) 4:517–526 525

Fig. 5  Pie chart of land use/cover coverage (%) from 1985 to 2013

Table 3  Land use/land cover change with time

Land use/cover Changes of the land use/cover with time

1985 ­(km2) 2010 ­(km2) 2013 ­(km2)

Urban 137.9 244.03 197.47

Cultivated 4556.4 2109.15 1090.06
Fish-farms 4.39 97.65 − 23.57
Lake 47.74 2.45 − 9.77
Sand-beach 112.34 − 98.3 1.32
Desert 6581.68 − 2328.82 − 1255.78

law for protecting the Nile delta to be as a protectorate and a

Fig. 6  Land use/land cover change with time
territorial dominion (forbidden to be practiced in alternative
purpose rather than agricultural land). Furthermore, change
the administrative boundary limit for all the governorates
that have not desert fringes to possess an associate with
receiving an elongation with the desert fringes for future
plans of urban extension.

Fig. 7  Temporal change detection of land use/land cover during

(2010–2013)

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Acknowledgements The authors would gratefully acknowledge Mr.
Ihab Y. Ahmed, researcher in the National Authority for Remote Sens-
ing and Space Sciences (NARSS), Cairo, Egypt, for his valuable assis-
tance in image analysis.
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