Analysis on Characteristics of Temporal and Spatial Evolution of Building Heights in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Based on GEE Platform.

At present, most existing studies on the urban building height are limited to a single city, and large-scale urban building height data are still lacking. Based on the Google Earth Engine platform, this paper first integrates radar remote sensing, optical remote sensing and other multi-source remote sensing data to retrieve the average heights of buildings at the scale of 500 m x 500 m in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) in 2015. The average heights of buildings from 1985 to 2014 in GBA are then reconstructed by considering the processes of urban expansion, urban renewal and greening restoration. On this basis,the temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of urban building heights from 1985 to 2015 are analyzed. The results show that the distribution pattern of building heights in GBA in 2015 corresponds well with the pattern of regional economic development. The cities in GBA exhibit four growth patterns of urban average building heights from 1985 to 2015, namely, low growth with high base (Hong Kong and Macao),high growth with medium base (Shenzhen),low growth with medium base (Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing), and high growth with low base (Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan and Huizhou). The evolution of urban structure in the built-up area can be divided into three types: upward expansion (Dongguan, Foshan, Shenzhen, Zhongshan and Macao), upward and outward expansion (Guangzhou and Hong Kong) and outward expansion (Jiangmen, Huizhou, Zhaoqing and Zhuhai). The reconstruction method of urban building height data proposed in this paper can be used to analyze the temporal and spatial distribution and growth patterns of urban building heights in different cities in the GBA, as well as help to understand the urban development process in the GBA, and provide references for other city studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]