A multi-scale method of mapping urban influence

Urban development can impact environmental quality and ecosystem services well beyond urban extent. Many methods to map urban areas have been developed and used in the past, but most have simply tried to map existing extent of urban development, and all have been single-scale techniques. The method presented here uses a clustering approach to look beyond the extant urban area at multiple scales. The result is a single, synoptic multi-scale map of urban influence that should be useful in urban, regional and environmental planning efforts.