Dr. Issa M. El-Shair
Associate Professor
Department of Geography
Faculty of Arts, Yarmouk University
Irbid, JORDAN.
Tel/fax: (009626) 4393389
E-mail address: issa_shair@hotmail.com
1. Introduction
1.1 Research Problem and the Population of Birkenhead
Geographic information systems and remote sensing are considered to be powerful tools for monitoring urban facilities. A fast growing environment such as the area covering suburbs located in the North Shore City of Greater Auckland Auckland (namely Birkenhead, Chatswood, Birkdale, and Beach Haven) requires special attention for its development planning (Fig. 1). Since these four suburbs appear on one remote sensing image, they are jointly known as Birkenhead Region.
Fig 1: General location of study area.
In this research bus routes and bus stops in Birkenhead region were studied. A 1994 spot image as well as a 1999 aerial photograph of the study area were used to extract the main land-use types in the region. DetaiLED maps for Birkenhead were used as ancillary data to study the properties of existing bus routes. Buffer zones around bus routes and bus stops and querying the database in Birkenhead were used as methods for accepting or rejecting the assumptions of the research.
Birkenhead was an important place for new migrants coming from abroad. European pioneers started to arrive at Birkenhead in 1840. Only few families were reported there by 1870. (Mc Clure, 1987, pp. 15, 23). The Birkenhead Wharf was built in 1882 to facilitate ferry transport to Auckland City. By 1956 the population of Birkenhead reached 500 people. The area was famous for its fine strawberry gardens. The sea going traffic and the
