Research Article

An Analysis of Site Suitability Analysis for Urban

Development in Dindigul District, Tamilnadu –
A Geomatic Approach
Chandrasekar Vasudevan 1, Shaik Mahamad2, Ravikumar P3, Vasudevan B4

Abstract
In the fast developing country like India, Decision making is becoming a big problem, mainly for
the development of cities. Site suitability or site analysis is method used in GIS to determine the
best place or site for something. This study was conducted to identify suitable sites for urban
development in Dindigul, using GIS-based multi-criteria evaluation of slope, road proximity, land
use, Aspects, and Hydro Geology factors. Major Spatial Analytical Hierarchy Process method as a
commonly use method of compensatory model is a suitable tool for this purpose. The results of
the site suitability analysis will produce the most -suitable to least-suitable places for the user
consideration. The Dindigul district has only 37% of the suitable land for the development of
urban region and majority of land fall in Moderately suitable.

Keywords: Land Suitability, Urban Development, Analytic Hierarchy Process, GIS and
Weighted Overlay Analysis

Introduction
Identification of suitable sites for urban development in hilly areas is one of the critical issues for planning. To
cater the needs of appropriate site in undulating areas, site suitability analysis has become inevitable (Santosh
Kumar 2014). Land-use suitability mapping and analysis is one of the most useful applications of GIS for spatial
planning and management (Collins et al., 2001; Malczewski, 2004).Site suitability is a method were we understand
the existing site qualities and factors, that will used for required activity. The increase in population and pressure
on the cities leads to development of urban region has taken a new trend, such as, after the formation of
Telengana state, the Andhra Pradesh has shifted its capital to Amaravati which leads to development of a new
urban region. In India, extension of cities are common, which will again have a pressure on the city in various
manner. Using site suitability a new urban region can be developed taking many factor. Taking Amaravati as an
example, in this research a potential site has been analysed in Dindigul District. Site suitability is technique which
will provide a potential site for the user requirements. It involves the detailed examination of the natural
resources and processes that characterize a site and include mapping techniques including GIS tools that help in
processing the geographical database that display the areas of the site, suitable for various planning objectives
and alternatives. Obtaining new site for urban development is increasingly more challenging particularly in an
increasing real estate market and can be the result of growth of urban areas, and increased environmental
standards or regulations.
1
Reserach Scholar, 2,3,4Assistant Professor, Dept of Geography, Presidency Collgege, Chennai.
Correspondence: Mr. Chandrasekar Vasu, Dept of Geography, Presidency Collgege, Chennai.
E-mail Id: vchandrasekar1989@gmail.com
Orcid Id: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8908-5754
How to cite this article: Chandrasekar V, Mahamad S, Ravikumar P et al. An Analysis of Site Suitability Analysis for Urban
Development in Dindigul District, Tamilnadu – A Geomatic Approach. J Adv Res GeoSci Rem Sens 2017; 4(1&2): 1-8.
ISSN: 2455-3190

© ADR Journals 2017. All Rights Reserved.

Chandrasekar V et al.
As Dindigul region has a lot of environment regulation
due the large coverage of forest and Hilly area in the
western of the district. The results of the site
suitability analysis will produce the most-suitable to
least-suitable places for the user consideration.
Aim & Objectives
This study aims to present how powerful the GIS
based multi criteria evaluation technique in land
suitability analysis for urban development. This
process involves a consideration of five factors, i.e.,
slope, road proximity, land use/cover, lithology and
aspect. With the help of geographic information
systems (GIS) tools, and AHP techniques, these five
factors were selected to be used in the analysis of the
suitability level in Dindigul District
Objectives
• Preparation of various thematic maps such as
landuse map, slope map, road map, Aspects and
Hydro Geology.
• To Analyze the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)
• Preparation of suitability map by overlaying the
thematic maps with suitable weightage.
Methodology
In order to develop site suitability map for urban
development various factors were created which are
using Aster DEM, with the help of Digital Terrain
Model (DTM) Slope and Aspect map were prepared.
Land sat 8 was used for generating land use/cover and
Figure1.Study Area Maps
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J. Adv. Res. GeoSci. Rem. Sens. 2017; 4(1&2)
Road shapefile were prepared for road proximity map.
A Hydro-Geology map was obtained through
Geological Survey of India. All these information layers
were integrated and analysed under ArcGIS
environment. These layers were then ranked through
Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) ranking methods.
Site Suitability = Σ [factor map (Cn) x weight (Wn)]
Where, Cn=standardized raster cell,
Wn=weight derived from AHP pair wise comparisons
(ESRI, 2000)
Study Area
Dindigul district is an administrative region in the
south of Tamil Nadu, India. The district was carved out
of Madurai District in 1985. It has an area of 6266.64
km2 and comprises three Revenue Divisions, eight
Taluks, and 14 Panchayats Unions. The district is
bound by the Erode, Tiruppur, Karur, and Trichy
districts in the north, the Sivagangai and Trichy
districts in the east, the Madurai district in the south,
and the Theni and Coimbatore districts and the state
of Kerala in the west. As of 2011, the district had a
population of 2,159,775 with a sex-ratio of 998
females for every 1,000 males. This district is having a
flourishing handloom industry at Chinnalapatti, which
is located at 11 Kms away from Dindigul on the
Madurai-Dindigul road. Art –Silk saris and Sungudi
saris produced in Chinnalapatti are famous
throughout India.
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J. Adv. Res. GeoSci. Rem. Sens. 2017; 4(1&2)
Selection and preparation of criteria maps
In this study five criteria were selected. The principal
criteria that are used for spatial analysis are slope,
Figure 2.Criteria Maps
Slope
Slope (Fig: 2a) is an important criterion for hilly terrain
for finding suitable sites for built-up.
up. Steep slopes are
disadvantageous for construction purpose because
the slope increases the construction cost.
Road Proximity
Road Proximity (Fig: 2b) Easy access to road helps in
movement and transportation at any place. However,
the construction of new road is expensive especially in
hilly regions. So effort is made to locate the site
nearer to any existingg road if possible. Moreover in
order to find out better accessibility to the existing
road, buffer zones have been created by taking 100
meter distance from the road.
Hydro Geology
Hydro geology (Fig: 2c) For developing a urban region
the water resources is the most important, Without
water the development of urban region won’t be in
3 ISSN: 2455-3190
Chandrasekar V et al.
road proximity, land use/cover, Hydro Geology and
aspect. These criteria were used in the preparation of
criteria maps.
balanced condition. So the aquifer zone is very
important.
Land use/ cover
Land use/cover (Fig: 2d) map of Dindigul district has
been categorized as agricultural, commercial,
residential and industrial because once a building is
constructed, it remains there for minimum 50 to 75
years. River bed is also not suitable for built-up
built area
development. Thus barren land/ Waste Land and
permanent fallow land is considered to be the highest
hig
suitable for development purpose.
Aspect
Aspect (Fig: 2e) People
eople prefer building their houses on
the sunny faced slopes. Thus, southern facing slopes
have higher intensity of importance. East facing slopes
catch sun only in the morning when temperatures
temperatur are
colder while west facing slopes catch the sun in the
warm afternoon. Consequently, east facing slopes are
colder than west facing slopes.
Chandrasekar V et al. J. Adv. Res. GeoSci. Rem. Sens. 2017; 4(1&2)

Table 1.Suitability Scoring

Intensity of Slope Hydrogeology Road Land Use/ Land Cover Aspect
Importance (Degree) Proximity
9 (Highest) 0 - 10 Aquifer zone Below 50 Waste Land South
8 (Very High) …. 50 - 100 South West
7 (High) …. 100 - 150 South East
6 (Moderate High) 10 - 20. 150 - 200 West
5 (Moderate) 20 - 30 200 - 250 Built up East
4 (Moderate Low) 30 - 40 Hilly Terrain 250 - 300 North West
3 (Low) 40 - 50 300 - 350 North East
2 (Very Low) 50 - 60 350 - 400 Scrub Forest/ Fallow Land North
1 (Lowest) 60 Above 400 Dense Forest

Pairwise Comparison Matrix

Table 2.Pairwise Comparison
Criteria Pairwise Comparison Matrix
Slope Road Proximity Land Use/ Land Cover Lithology Aspect
(a) (b) © (d) (e)
Slope 1 3 4 8 9
Road Proximity 0.33 1 3 4 8
Land Use / Land Cover 0.25 0.33 1 3 4
Lithology 0.12 0.25 0.33 1 3
Aspect 0.11 0.12 0.25 0.33 1
Total 1.81 4.7 8.58 16.33 25

Normalized Pairwise Comparison Matrix

Table 3.Normalized pairwise comparison
Criteria Normalized Pairwise Comparison Matrix Computation of
Slope Road Proximity Land Use / Land Cover Lithology Aspect criterion
(a) (b) © (d) (e) weights
(a+b+c+d+e)/5
Slope 0.55 0.64 0.47 0.49 0.36 0.5
Road Proximity 0.18 0.21 0.35 0.24 0.32 0.26
Land Use / Land Cover 0.14 0.07 0.12 0.18 0.16 0.13
Lithology 0.07 0.05 0.04 0.06 0.12 0.07
Aspect 0.06 0.03 0.03 0.02 0.04 0.04
Total 1 1 1.01 0.99 1 1

Weighted Sum Overlay

Table 4.Weighted sum overlay

Criteria Weighted Sum Overlay Consistency vector
Slope [(1)(0.50)+(3)(0.26)+(4)(0.13)+(8)(0.07)+(9)(0.04)]=2.72 2.72/.50=5.44
Road Proximity [(0.33)(0.50)+(1)(0.26)+(3)(0.13)+(4)(0.07)+(8)(0.04)]=1.415 1.415/0.26=5.11
Land Use/ Land [(0.25)(0.50)+(0.33)(0.26)+(1)(0.13)+(3)(0.07)+(4)(0.04)]=0.71 0.71/.13=5.46
Cover
Lithology [(0.12)(0.5)+(0.25)(0.26)+(0.33)(0.13)+(1)(0.07)+(3)(0.04)]=0.36 0.36/.07=5.14
Aspect [(0.11)(0.50)+(0.12)(0.26)+(0.25)(0.13)+(0.33)(0.07)+(1)(0.04)]=0.18 0.18/.04=4.50

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J. Adv. Res. GeoSci. Rem. Sens. 2017; 4(1&2) Chandrasekar V et al.

Calculation of the consistency ratio Calculation of consistency index (CI)

It is required to check whether our comparisons are CI = (λ – n)/ (n-1)

consistent. Table 4 shows the determination of
weighted sum vector and consistency vector. = (5.132-5)/ (5-1)

Calculation of lambda (λ) = (5.44+5.11+5.42+5.14+ = 0.033

4.50/5) = 5.132 Calculation of consistency ratio (CR), CR = CI/RI =
Note: Lambda (λ) is the average of consistency vector. 0.033/1.12 (Since RI= 1.12 for n = 5) = 0.029

Condition 1 Condition 2

λ should be equal or greater than the number of
criteria under consideration. The value calculated
above satisfies this condition.
Consistency ratio CR (=0.029) <0.10 indicated a
reasonable level of consistency in the pairwise
comparisons. Therefore, the values obtained satisfy
the noted conditions, which denote that the weights
obtained are agreeable.

Final output of Land Suitability Map

Figure 3.Final land suitability Analysis

All five criteria maps were converted into raster Table 5.Land suitability areas
format, so that for each pixel, a score can be Intensity of Importance Area In Sq kms
determined. All the criteria maps were integrated and Very Low 749.124
overlaid and the final site suitability map the final site Low 1202.49
suitability map reveals that the study area was divided Moderate 1852.63
into six different suitability categories. The area under High 1517.17
extreme low, very low, low, moderate, high and very
Very High 757.917
high lands

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Chandrasekar V et al.
Figure 4.Land suitability chart
The above charts shows that the district has moderate
land suitability development with 31% and 25 and 12
% with high and very high urban development.
The above map clearly explain the urban development
in Dindigul district. As the district has been divided in
two parts such as hilly region and plain region in the
eastern side. As geographer we all know the
development takes place were the plain region is
present. These plain region has fertile soils, will
reduce the cost for development, east connectivity. In
the above map Dindigul district has been seen
moderate to high development with 31% to 25 %.
In the western part of the district the taluk
Kodaikkanal has very low urban development due to
high altitude and vegetation coverage in the hills
which is a part of Tamilnadu tourism. The upper part
of the district and the eastern part of the district has
the moderate to high possibilities of urban
development. Using the Slope, Aspects, Hydrology,
Land use/ Land Cover one can prepare the
development region in the given district.
Using those secondary and AHP data, the land
suitability map has been prepared which shows the
possibilities of moderate to high urban development
in plain region compared to the hilly region of the
Dindigul district. Taluks such as Vedasandur and Palani
has shown high development due to good
connectivity and availability of major facilities which a
urban region needs. This model can also encourage
public participation in the urban decision making
ISSN: 2455-3190
J. Adv. Res. GeoSci. Rem. Sens. 2017; 4(1&2)
process and assist various planners and authorities to
formulate suitable plan for sustained development of
the region. It is very important for planners to decide
whether land should be developed immediately or to
be conserved for future development. This model can
help to prepare the strategic urban land development
framework and the short-term land use policies can
be formulated.
Summary & Conclusion
The analysis of this study mainly focused on highly
suitable areas as these areas have highest potential
for urban development. The GIS and Remote Sensing
with AHP model has been used to identify the land
suitability analysis based on five criteria layers. The
Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method has been
found as a useful method to determine the weights,
as compare to other methods used for determining
weights. The model helped to analyze the decision
before making the final choice It provide a better
platform for land suitability calculation of urban and
rural planning which combine remote sensing and GIS,
this article made evaluation based on the weight
analyst.
Using the Slope, Aspects, Hydrology, Land use/ Land
Cover one can prepare the development region in the
given district. Using those data the land suitability
map has been prepared which shows moderate to
high development in plain region compared to the
hilly region of the Dindigul district. Taluks such as
Vedasandur and Palani has shown high development
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J. Adv. Res. GeoSci. Rem. Sens. 2017; 4(1&2)
due to good connectivity and availability of major
facilities which a urban region needs. This model can
also encourage public participation in the urban
decision making process and assist various planners
and authorities to formulate suitable plan for
sustained development of the region. It is very
important for planners to decide whether land should
be developed immediately or to be conserved for
future development. This model can help to prepare
the strategic urban land development framework and
the short-term land use policies can be formulated.
The region which has vegetation coverage has been
avoided keeping sustainable development in the
region. As per the land suitability analysis the plain
region has more chance of development and already
the development has started in eastern side of taluks.
Plain region which has easy connectivity and will
reduce the cost of development compared to the hilly
regions. As the hilly region may get affected, if any
industrial development occurs and these region are
mainly depends on the tourism factors. Finally the
Dindigul district of eastern part has high level of urban
development due to its plain geographical features
which support the urban criteria to develop.
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