Washington, D.C.: land change, 2016–2025
Two Sentinel-2 satellite images of a 20 km square around Washington, D.C., from 2016-06-20 and 2025-06-03, 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
- 2016-06-20
- After
- 2025-06-03
- Area analysed
- 394 km²
Change
-9.8 km²net change in built-up area
In cells the model is sure of on both dates (confidence ≥ 0.8): 2.5 km² became built-up, 8.2 km² changed in total.
Land cover on both dates
| 2016 | 2025 | ± | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture no notable change | 0% | 0.8% | +0.8 |
| Natural vegetation increased | 32.2% | 33.2% | +1 |
| Built-up decreased | 63.7% | 61.2% | -2.5 |
| Water no notable change | 4.2% | 4.8% | +0.6 |
Largest transitions (confident cells)
- Built-up → Natural vegetation4.5 km²
- Natural vegetation → Built-up2.5 km²
- Natural vegetation → Water1.2 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.