UrbanVCA: a vector-based cellular automata framework to simulate the urban land-use change at the land-parcel level

Vector-based cellular automata (CA) based on real land-parcel has become an important trend in current urban development simulation studies. Compared with raster-based and parcel-based CA models, vector CA models are difficult to be widely used because of their complex data structures and technical difficulties. The UrbanVCA, a brand-new vector CA-based urban development simulation framework was proposed in this study, which supports multiple machine-learning models. To measure the simulation accuracy better, this study also first proposes a vector-based landscape index (VecLI) model based on the real land-parcels. Using Shunde, Guangdong as the study area, the UrbanVCA simulates multiple types of urban land-use changes at the land-parcel level have achieved a high accuracy (FoM=0.243) and the landscape index similarity reaches 87.3%. The simulation results in 2030 show that the eco-protection scenario can promote urban agglomeration and reduce ecological aggression and loss of arable land by at least 60%. Besides, we have developed and released UrbanVCA software for urban planners and researchers.