Land cover change analysis in Majalengka Regency using the pan-sharpening method and random forest machine learning algorithm

The ever-increasing population has accelerated the need for housing and supporting facilities. Further, this growing number of residences and life support facilities resulted in changes in land cover. For instance, the construction of the West Java International Airport and the increase in the population resulted in land cover changes in Majalengka Regency, Indonesia. This study aims to analyze changes in land cover during 2014, 2018, and 2022 in the Majalengka district using Landsat 8 satellite imagery. We used the pan-sharpening research method, while for the closure classification, we used machine-learning random forest algorithms on the google earth engine platform. The land cover classification classes adopted in this study were natural vegetation, cultivated vegetation, open land, built-up land, and bodies of water. The obtained land cover classification results suggested overall accuracy values of 0.96, 0.94, and 0.93 in 2014, 2018, and 2022 respectively, with kappa index values of 0.950, 0.925, and 0.91667. The results indicate a trend of changes in the land cover in the Majalengka district. From 2014-2022, the trend of increasing land cover area was observed in open land and built-up land, while the decreasing land cover area was found in natural vegetation and cultivated vegetation areas. Using both the pan-sharpening method and the machine learning random forest algorithm, we established images with a more detailed appearance with an outstanding kappa accuracy value (above 0.85). Therefore, the developed algorithm can be used in land cover change mapping analysis.