New York: land change, 2016–2025
Two Sentinel-2 satellite images of a 20 km square around New York, from 2016-08-29 and 2025-07-25, were classified by a ResNet18 model trained on EuroSAT. Every 640 m cell is put in one of four land-cover groups, and the two dates are compared cell by cell.
- Before
- 2016-08-29
- After
- 2025-07-25
- Area analysed
- 388 km²
Change
+9.8 km²net change in built-up area
In cells the model is sure of on both dates (confidence ≥ 0.8): 5.3 km² became built-up, 9 km² changed in total.
Land cover on both dates
| 2016 | 2025 | ± | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture no notable change | 0.2% | 0.8% | +0.6 |
| Natural vegetation decreased | 16.1% | 12.6% | -3.5 |
| Built-up increased | 60.7% | 63.3% | +2.6 |
| Water no notable change | 23% | 23.3% | +0.3 |
Largest transitions (confident cells)
- Natural vegetation → Built-up5.3 km²
- Built-up → Natural vegetation2 km²
- Natural vegetation → Agriculture0.4 km²
- Built-up → Water0.4 km²
- Built-up → Agriculture0.4 km²
Limits
- Every value shown is a model estimate, not a measurement.
- Areas are not measurements but approximations counted from cells. The figures are always computed on 640 m cells; the scale only changes how the map is drawn.
- The model was trained on European images only; results for places tagged "experimental" are less reliable.
- Clouds, shadows and seasonal differences can show change that is not there.