remote sensing Article Examining Spatial Patterns of Urban Distribution and Impacts of Physical Conditions on Urbanization in Coastal and Inland Metropoles Dengsheng Lu 1,2,3,* ID , Longwei Li 4, Guiying Li 1,2 ID , Peilei Fan 3, Zutao Ouyang 3 and Emilio Moran 3 ID 1 Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory for Subtropical Resources and Environment, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350007, China;
[email protected] 2 School of Geographical Sciences, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350007, China 3 Center for Global Change and Earth Observations, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48823, USA;
[email protected] (P.F.);
[email protected] (Z.O.);
[email protected] (E.M.) 4 School of Environmental & Resource Sciences, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, Hangzhou 311300, China;
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[email protected]; Tel./Fax: +86-571-6374-6366 Received: 15 June 2018; Accepted: 8 July 2018; Published: 11 July 2018 Abstract: Urban expansion has long been a research hotspot and is often based on individual cities, but rarely has research conducted a comprehensive comparison between coastal and inland metropoles for understanding different spatial patterns of urban expansions and driving forces. We selected coastal metropoles (Shanghai and Shenzhen in China, and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam) and inland metropoles (Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, Lanzhou in China, and Vientiane in Laos) with various developing stages and physical conditions for examining the spatiotemporal patterns of urban expansions in the past 25 years (1990–2015). Multitemporal Landsat images with 30 m spatial resolution were used to develop urban impervious surface area (ISA) distributions and examine their dynamic changes.