POSSIBILITIES OF THE DEFINITION OF CITY BOUNDARIES IN GIS – THE CASE STUDY OF A MEDIUM-SIZED CITY

References: 14th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM 2014, www.sgem.org, SGEM2014 Conference Proceedings, ISBN 978-619-7105-12-4 / ISSN 1314-2704, June 19-25, 2014, Book 2, Vol. 3, 777-784 pp

ABSTRACT
In geography, boundaries of urban space and a city itself are usually defined by means of administrative boundaries. These, however, are defined in different ways and therefore very often ignore a real physical boundary of urban (built-up) space. Existing studies have defined city boundaries using remote sensing methods, which can in many cases be replaced by analyses carried out in GIS (geographic information system) environment. The authors of the paper describe several methods of possible definition of city boundaries by means of the density of a road network and public transport. As a complementary analysis, the definition of a catchment area is carried out using the buffer zones around a public transport network. This area is then defined as a city, too. The analyses of the city of Olomouc describe other possible methods of definition of city boundaries, which may be used for cities of similar size and nature.

Keywords: city boundaries, GIS, road network, remote sensing.