Use of Remote sensing and GIS

Delimitation of the agglomeration

The morphological limits of the agglomeration can be determinated by remote sensing. Shown here is a comparison between the limits of the medina (in purple) and the limits of the current agglomeration based on a SPOT image of 1991 (in yellow).

Typology of the city quarters

A segmentation of the city in quarters can be done by visual interpretation. The picture shows seven kinds of quarters. A detailed picture taken at ground level is available by clicking on the lower part of the red ellipses while a satellite or aerial image is shown by clicking on the upper part of the red ellipses.

Click in the red ellipses to zoom in: on the lower part to view a detailed picture;
on the upper part to view a satellite or aerial image extract.
Sources : SPOT image - 1991.

Medina

Patio houses and the labyrinth street network are visible on this satellite image.

Ground photograph   -   Satellite image (QuickBird)

Central Business District (CBD) of Guéliz

This part of the city is characterised by the implementation of the urbanistic principles used in France during the twentieth century (radio-concentric and/or orthogonal road network).

Ground photograph   -   Satellite image (QuickBird)

Public sector housing

The implant of flats is systematic.

Ground photograph   -   Satellite image (QuickBird)

Individual housing

Only one family is living in this kind of house. There are no gardens but the streets are usually bordered with trees.

Ground photograph   -   Satellite image (QuickBird)

Residential suburb

Individual houses are surrounded by beautiful gardens with swimming pools and sometimes tennis courts. Luxury hotels are also located in this area.

Ground photograph   -   Satellite image (QuickBird)

New extensions

These parts of the city are the result of very well organised housing developments.

Ground photograph   -   Satellite image (aerial photograph)

Small villages

New extension of small villages can be observed in the suburb of Marrakesh

Ground photograph   -   Satellite image (aerial photograph)

Estimation of the population

Remote sensing techniques allow the segmentation of the city in homogeneous housing blocks by visual interpretation. An estimation of the population density by ha for each type of housing can be evaluated by field survey. The total population was estimated in 1991 at nearly one million of inhabitants. The figure also shows the localisation of the traditional housing (inside of the medina walls) as well as the localisation of modern and informal housing.

This map the population estimation for Marrakesh (1991) was realized by Yves Baudot in the framework of the OSTC program and of his PhD.

Land-cover

This land-cover map obtained by supervised classification of the SPOT Image (09/19/1991) gives an idea of what is possible with a spatial resolution of 20 m.

This classification was realised in the framework of the Belgian OSTC project (Telsat II/09) by Yves Baudot.