One of the most important mechanisms in which human societies have transformed the earth is through urbanization. Land use changes such as from cropland to businesses are important ways in which urban growth transforms landscapes. This study uses qualitative and quantitative methods in order to visualize where urban growth and landscape changes are occurring between Hattiesburg and Columbia, Mississippi within the first decade of the 21st century. The methods I used involved conducting transects and creating hand-drawn maps, conversion of hand-drawn maps into ArcGIS shapefiles for interpretation and analysis, and lastly juxtaposition of shapefiles onto Landsat imagery. To analyze the data I wrote narratives, created a multiple ring buffer, and calculated the point density of the landscape features. The results of this research show that urban growth and related land use change is expanding in a pattern relative to that of the Burgess Model.
","abstract_html":"<p>One of the most important mechanisms in which human societies have transformed the earth is through urbanization. Land use changes such as from cropland to businesses are important ways in which urban growth transforms landscapes. This study uses qualitative and quantitative methods in order to visualize where urban growth and landscape changes are occurring between Hattiesburg and Columbia, Mississippi within the first decade of the 21st century. The methods I used involved conducting transects and creating hand-drawn maps, conversion of hand-drawn maps into ArcGIS shapefiles for interpretation and analysis, and lastly juxtaposition of shapefiles onto Landsat imagery. To analyze the data I wrote narratives, created a multiple ring buffer, and calculated the point density of the landscape features. The results of this research show that urban growth and related land use change is expanding in a pattern relative to that of the Burgess Model.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Norville, Courtney Shea"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science (MS)","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":"Geography and Geology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["David Cochran","Clifton Dixon","Jerry Bass"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2013,"date_issued":"2013-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2013-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:06Z","subjects":["Geography","Social and Behavioral Sciences"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/495","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["David Cochran","Clifton Dixon","Jerry Bass"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Norville, Courtney Shea"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2018-11-14T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Geography and Geology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (MS)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Geography","Social and Behavioral Sciences"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/495"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["One of the most important mechanisms in which human societies have transformed the earth is through urbanization. Land use changes such as from cropland to businesses are important ways in which urban growth transforms landscapes. This study uses qualitative and quantitative methods in order to visualize where urban growth and landscape changes are occurring between Hattiesburg and Columbia, Mississippi within the first decade of the 21st century. The methods I used involved conducting transects and creating hand-drawn maps, conversion of hand-drawn maps into ArcGIS shapefiles for interpretation and analysis, and lastly juxtaposition of shapefiles onto Landsat imagery. To analyze the data I wrote narratives, created a multiple ring buffer, and calculated the point density of the landscape features. The results of this research show that urban growth and related land use change is expanding in a pattern relative to that of the Burgess Model.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Drive-By Geography: Perceptions of Urban Growth and Land Use in Hattiesburg, Mississippi"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["David Cochran","Clifton Dixon","Jerry Bass"],"dc:creator":["Norville, Courtney Shea"],"dc:date.available":["2018-11-14T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["One of the most important mechanisms in which human societies have transformed the earth is through urbanization. Land use changes such as from cropland to businesses are important ways in which urban growth transforms landscapes. This study uses qualitative and quantitative methods in order to visualize where urban growth and landscape changes are occurring between Hattiesburg and Columbia, Mississippi within the first decade of the 21st century. The methods I used involved conducting transects and creating hand-drawn maps, conversion of hand-drawn maps into ArcGIS shapefiles for interpretation and analysis, and lastly juxtaposition of shapefiles onto Landsat imagery. To analyze the data I wrote narratives, created a multiple ring buffer, and calculated the point density of the landscape features. The results of this research show that urban growth and related land use change is expanding in a pattern relative to that of the Burgess Model.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/495"],"dc:subject":["Geography","Social and Behavioral Sciences"],"dc:title":["Drive-By Geography: Perceptions of Urban Growth and Land Use in Hattiesburg, Mississippi"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Geography and Geology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (MS)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:06Z"}