ABSTRACT
Urban places represent built environments that are physically distinguishable from the natural environment, and are thus potentially identifiable through the use of remotely-sensed sources such as satellite images. This chapter begins with a justification of the use of the built environment as a signature of urban places. It provides an overview of how satellite images can be used to distill information about the urban environment, and of the role that geographic information systems play in the analysis. The chapter illustrates the approach to understanding the urbanness of places using data from Egypt. Variables derived from satellite images are combined with census data to improve understanding of the spatial variability in human behavior in the context of the urban-rural continuum. The chapter suggests that ways in which the type of analysis could be used to measure and understand phenomena such as urban sprawl and multinucleation of metropolitan areas.
