Riyadh: land change, 2016–2025
Two Sentinel-2 satellite images of a 20 km square around Riyadh, from 2016-07-30 and 2025-07-18, 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
- 2016-07-30
- After
- 2025-07-18
- Area analysed
- 394 km²
Change
+29.1 km²net change in built-up area
In cells the model is sure of on both dates (confidence ≥ 0.8): 8.6 km² became built-up, 10.2 km² changed in total.
This area lies in the Tuwayq Mountains mountain region. Bare rock and scree have no class of their own in EuroSAT and can show up as built-up or agriculture.
Land cover on both dates
| 2016 | 2025 | ± | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture decreased | 10.9% | 2.2% | -8.7 |
| Natural vegetation increased | 0.2% | 1.6% | +1.4 |
| Built-up increased | 88.9% | 96.3% | +7.4 |
| Water no notable change | 0% | 0% | 0 |
Largest transitions (confident cells)
- Agriculture → Built-up8.6 km²
- Agriculture → Natural vegetation1.6 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.