The Application of Aerial and Satellite Orthophotos in the Analysis of Land Conditions and Changes for the Needs of Spatial Planning at the Local Level

Land is one of the basic prerequisites for the existence of life on Earth. We are increasingly witnessing that land, especially in urban areas and suburban centers, is treated as a commercial commodity. On the other hand, for many communities, turning land into a marketable item does not support sustainable development, or such a concept of treating land rights as a commercial commodity is unacceptable. Considering that the sustainable management of land represents a big challenge in urban cities, it is necessary to make an inventory of the state of available resources, and the dynamics of changes in space over time, and based on the obtained results, evaluate the optimal way of using land space. The goal of this research is to show the importance of spatial data and information about land and land cover in the process of spatial planning and the way land is used in the development of urban areas such as the municipality Novi Grad Sarajevo. The research will include an analysis of the state of the land-based on official cadastral records, spatial planning documentation, and digital orthophotos of the municipality of Novi Grad Sarajevo at a scale of 1: 5,000 from 2008 and 2022. Based on the inventory of available databases and plans, and their analysis in GIS, the goal is also to indicate the characteristics of the land of the Municipality of Novi Grad Sarajevo and the changes in land cover that occurred between 2008 and 2022.