Land use in Bayan Lepas 1969

The land use map shown in Figure 7, below, was produced by analyzing a topographic map for Penang Island, (1977). The map covers an area of 67.4 km², of which 42.9 km² (63.6%) was land, 1.8 km² (2.7%) was marshland, and 22.7 km² (33.7%) was sea, including the intertidal zone (coastal sand and mudflats), 2.8 km².

The land area was classified as follows: rice fields 5.6 km² (13.1%); airport 1.5 km² (3.5%); and other land, 35.8 km² (83.4%). The area of buildings and associated infrastructure could not be measured directly because such point and line features lack the dimensions needed for measuring area. The residential and commercial areas, including infrastructure but excluding the airport, was estimated at about 0.75 km ², (See Buildings for the calculation.).

The large drains are included in the rice-fields category. The land area was less than in 2003 because in the interval land was reclaimed from the marshes and the sea. (See: Tables showing land-use classes and Techniques for making 1969 land-use map.)

Of total land area and marshes (44.7 km²), 16.9 km² (37.8%) was below 10 meters, 9.9 km² (22.1%) was between 10 and 30 meters, and 17.9 km² (40.0%) above 30 meters. These elevations are shown as overlays on the map.

Of the sea area (22.7 km²), the intertidal zone was 2.8 km² (12.3%). During the period 1970 to 2003, 4.7 km² of land was reclaimed, including all of the intertidal zone and all of the marshland.

Of rice fields, 85% were below 10 meters and the rest were between 10 and 30 meters. (One hectare of rice field appeared to be located over 30 meters, but the elevation was judged to be spurious, resulting from slight misregistration of the images.)

Of buildings, 58% were estimated to be located below 10 meters, 38% between 10 and 30 meters, and 4% over 30 meters.

The features called "drains" in the land-use map may be more significant than this term implies. See discussion.

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Land use in Bayan Lepas 2003

This photograph (Figure 8) was taken looking east from the parking lot of a new golf and country club located at G in Figure 9. The golf course lies in the foreground just east of the letter G in Figure 9, where the land use code indicates grassland. In the middle ground on the left of Figure 8, high-rise apartment blocks are flanked on the left by older low-rise-low-income housing areas and on the right newer high-income apartments.

Behind the tallest apartment block, buildings can be seen on the top of Bukit Gedong, a hill reserved by the military. The lower eastern slopes behind the hill are sparsely covered by woods though which a road passes to join the main north-south road. Between these converging roads lies a triangular area occupied by factories. Beyond the easternmost of these two roads, the main north-south road, lies the runway of the international airport. Beyond the runway the main area of factories can be seen stretching to the coast and extending north behind Bukit Gedong and as far south as the lower levels of the southern hills.

The hill visible beyond Bukit Gedong is an offshore island part of which extends south of Bukit Gedong.

This 120-degree panorama image was produced by stitching together seven photographs taken with a hand-held digital camera using the PanaVue ImageAssembler. Demo version available.

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Land-use Map 2003

The map in Figure 9 shows the sea, 19.8 km² (29%), and five kinds of land use and land cover, 47.6 km² (71%). The total land area is comprised of: buildings and bare soil, 21.0 km² (44%); grassland, 7.4 km² (16%); forest, 6.7 km² (14%); brushland, 3.4 km² (7%); and other, 9.0 km² (19%). (See: Tables showing land-use classes.)

The land-class "other" was the most difficult to identify. Some locations indicated as "other" were not accessible, such as the north end of the main runway. Both golf courses (G and H) have small ponds that appear to fit, leading to a working hypothesis that "other" refers to water bodies.

The ASTER dataset was acquired on November 4, 2003, a time when rainfall was high and declining. (See: Rainfall). However, the field visit took place July 18, 2004, when rainfall was lower, thus field observations were of limited use in determining the type of land use. Inspection of a false-color composite image containing an infrared layer reveals some of the features as surface water bodies, "drains", rivers, and ponds. The reason these pixels are so dark in the ASTER 243 composite is that infrared absorbs light reflected from water, thus pixels representing wet areas appear dark. This characteristic of the infrared makes it useful for anaylysis. (See: 243 composite).

Reclaimed land is shown in Figure 9, but it cannot be seen as such in the ASTER images. The area of reclaimed land was defined by comparing the ASTER images with the topographic map based on the 1969 survey. The industrial area outlined by red dots was determined from the 2-4-3 composite image, "looking over the fence", and by inspection of photographs, (1), (2), and, (3).

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