This project tracked the spatial growth of Kitale town, Trans-Nzoia County between 2010 and 2023 using a time-series of Landsat and Sentinel-2 imagery. Python scripts using Rasterio and GeoPandas automated the extraction of built-up area extents from each image epoch.
Growth was compared against the Trans-Nzoia County Integrated Development Plan 2018-2022 planning boundaries to identify areas of unplanned or informal expansion. Hotspot analysis was performed using Kernel Density Estimation to reveal growth corridors.
Final maps were produced in QGIS using the Atlas function to generate a series of comparable layout plates for each time period.
Distinguishing built-up surfaces from bare agricultural soils required careful band combination and threshold tuning, particularly during dry season when spectral signatures converge.
Project presented to the Trans-Nzoia County Spatial Planning Office as a reference dataset. Received commendation from course supervisor.