GEOSPATIAL ANALYSIS OF LAND COVER CHANGES IN BAČKA FROM 1990 TO 2018

The area of Bačka is located in northwestern part of Serbia. Although it is predominantly a lowland area, Bačka is characterized by several relief forms that differ in altitude, geological and pedological composition, hydrological conditions, various anthropogenic influences and, therefore, land cover. For the study period, sociogeographical characteristics are more important than natural ones. Human has largely influenced the spatial changes in this region, first of all by forming agricultural areas in all suitable places, then by expanding urban areas caused by population growth, and also by woodcutting and pond formation. Research is focused on the period since there is more accurate and comparable data on the land cover of Serbia in order to detect and analyze the changes faithfully. This paper uses geospatial data from Corine Land Cover (CLC) database that shows the state of land cover from 1990 to 2018 for most of Europe. The aim of this paper is to recognize spatial changes in these data using geographic information system (GIS) and to identify the factors that caused these changes. Motive for this research is still a small number of papers on this topic in Serbia.