Time series GIS analysis of rural land use change in southern Ibaraki Prefecture with historical maps starting with rapid survey maps

In order to carry out a time-series analysis of rural land use change covering 120 years in a research area in southern Ibaraki Prefecture, this study carried out a GIS overlay analysis of maps representing the 1880s, 1910s, 1950s, 1980s, and 2000s. The earliest were the Rapid Survey Maps and the latest were the Ministry of Environment vegetation maps. Land use changes that occurred between time periods were classified into no change, change among rural land uses (such as between woodland and fields), and change into urban land uses. From the 1880s to the 1950s, most land use changes occurred between rural land uses. From the 1950s, land use change into urban uses became prominent. The rural land uses differed in the temporal trends of increase or decrease, and in the time periods when they reached the maximum proportion in the map area. Large grasslands appear prominently in the study area in the 1880s, but no longer appear in subsequent time periods. Woodlands and rice paddy reach the highest proportion of the study area in the 1910s, fields in the 1950s, and residential areas in the 2000s.