The Spatial Pattern Evolution And Driving Force Analysis Of Rural Settlements Based On GIS

Rural settlement is the place of agricultural population living and production activities. As the core of rural settlement geography study, its research content is very rich, but the study of its spatial pattern has attracted a lot of attention. In recent years, with the development of information technology, the method of landscape ecology, RS, GIS technology and other new technology methods are gradually applied to the study of rural settlement spatial pattern, However at present the application of new technology methods is in the level of data information acquisition and the relative.The historical analysis of the evolution of rural settlement spatial pattern is more concentrated in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there are lacks of discussion on effective management of rural settlement data and the study of spatial pattern of rural settlement on small scale and long time series.Taking Yuxian as an example, this paper takes the rural settlement points as the research object, dividing the type of settlement according to the principle of classification and the historical period in the light of settlement setting time. Based on Geo Database data model, the article builds rural settlement database which can realize quick query, analysis and calculation function of data. The paper investigate the evolution characteristics of the settlement quantity through the statistical analysis, analyze the evolution of different types of settlement based on the classification of settlement and discuss the overall distribution patterns and regional differences of the spatial pattern of rural settlements by the nearest neighbor index and kernel density estimation. Meanwhile the kernel density distribution map of rural settlement in different historical periods can express the distribution and evolution characteristics of the spatial pattern of the rural settlements distinctly.The results show that:(1) According to the quantity analysis of the rural settlements in different periods, we can find that the quantity of rural settlements continued growth during the whole period and the growth incidence of Ming Dynasty was the highest. New rural settlements appeared at every period, but concentrated on Ming and Qing Dynasty, especially in the Ming Dynasty the quantity of new rural settlements came to a peak. To the Qing Dynasty, the development of settlements turns to be stable.(2) Humanities settlements were the majority before the Tang Dynasty. Since the Sui and Tang Dynasty, the natural class of settlements growth rapidly. The number of the humanities settlements and the natural settlements achieved a balance on Ming and Qing Dynasty.(3) By the spatial visualization, we find that the characteristic of overall pattern evolution is by the centralized distribution to random distribution. Before Yuan Dynasty rural settlements showed aggregated distribution. On Ming Dynasty, with the large increase of rural settlement and the expansion of the spatial distribution scope, rural settlements tend to random distribution.(4) The regional spatial structure characterized by four kinds of distribution mode. Before Sui and Tang Dynasty,it showed "The Huliu River side one ‘glyph’ ‘dual-core’ distribution model of the slow growth". Rural settlements mainly distributed on one side of the Huliu River, while settlement rarely distributed in the mountain area. On Song and Yuan Dynasty, many new settlements appeared and settlements distributed in the whole county. Spatial distribution presented "The Huliu River downstream ‘multi-core’ distribution pattern of common growth". Aggregation core increased and the distribution of settlements extended to the north and the south area in Yuxian. On Ming Dynasty, it showed "The space expansion mode of a wide range extender on both side of the Huliu River of rapid growth". The quantity of settlement came to a peak. The development of the settlement in this period laid the foundation for the basic structure of the rural settlements. On Qing Dynasty, it showed "Banded ‘multi-core’ spatial distribution pattern on both side of the Huliu River of steady growth ".The growth of settlements was stable and the basic structure formed.(5) Moreover, the driving force which promoted the evolution of the settlement spatial pattern has four aspects. In these factors, the natural environment condition is the dominant factor. Political and military condition is the outside motive of settlement space overall pattern evolution. In the history, the war happens frequently between ethnic minorities and the central plains dynasty, so the northern rural settlements’ development is slower than the southern.Nearest immigration of population and ethnic minority’s immigration promote the development of the level structure of rural settlement. Economic prosperity and development of the commercial trade is the inner motive power of settlement space hierarchy development. The research indicates that kernel density estimation method can show preferable settlements spatial pattern and analyze settlements evolution at different historical stages.