Urban land cover (2009)

The urban extent of Gauteng is reflected in this map that depicts urban land cover derived from 2009 satellite imagery supplied by GeoTerraImage (GTI). The urban land cover class is defined by GTI as: “All built-up areas, including all aspects of residential, commercial, industrial, mining and transportation infrastructure, in both urban and rural environments. Represents primarily a non-vegetated, artificially sealed surface, except for vegetated gardens not otherwise identified as urban-trees or urban-grasslands. Also includes all major road and rail networks, recently cleared, non-vegetated areas being prepared for urban development, and rural farm infrastructure (including greenhouses, propagation tunnels and chicken / pig batteries).”

Urban land cover constitutes 15% of the total land coverage in Gauteng.