Measurement of land use pattern based on spatial adjacency

The land use structure can be understood as a concept of land use types´ composition, contrast relations and spatial patterns, which including the numeral structure and spatial structure. Spatial distribution characteristics and spatial relationships of land use are important contents in land use planning. However, the attribute of land use class is nominal variable, which is the simplest property type. Based on land use types classification, this paper proposed a spatial correlation index named adjacency index to quantitatively analyze spatial correlation of nominal variables, and used Visual Studio platform to realize the algorithm´s implementation. In the end, this research set Changping District of Beijing, China as an example. Results showed that the method could not only quantitatively measure spatial autocorrelation, and characterize spatial distribution and spatial relations of land use, but also predict the trend of land use changing pattern.