{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,20]],"date-time":"2026-01-20T01:34:40Z","timestamp":1768872880674,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2016,5,6]],"date-time":"2016-05-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1462492800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJGI"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Rapid urbanization has caused many environmental problems, such as the heat island effect, intensifying air pollution, pollution from runoff, loss of wildlife habitat, etc. Accurate evaluations of these problems demand an accurate delineation of the spatial extent of the urban fringe. Conceptual and analytical ambiguity of the urban fringe and a general lack of consensus among researchers have made its measurement very difficult. This study reports a compound and reliable method to delineate the urban fringe area using a case study. Based on the 'fringe effect' theory in landscape ecology, the existing land cover information entropy model for defining the urban fringe is renewed by incorporating scale theory, cartography and urban geography theory. Results show that the urban fringe area of Guangzhou and Foshan metropolitan area covers an area of 2031 km2, and it occupies over 31% of the total study area. Result evaluation by industry structure data shows satisfactory correspondence with different land cover types. This paper reports the method and outcome of an attempt to provide an objective, repeatable and generally applicable method for mapping its spatial extent from remote sensing imageries, and could be beneficial to relevant urban studies and urban fringe management projects.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijgi5050059","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2016,5,6]],"date-time":"2016-05-06T10:19:23Z","timestamp":1462529963000},"page":"59","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":28,"title":["Delineating Urban Fringe Area by Land Cover Information Entropy\u2014An Empirical Study of Guangzhou-Foshan Metropolitan Area, China"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"5","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0605-6713","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Junyi","family":"Huang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Geography and Centre for Geo-computation Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong"},{"name":"School of Geographical Sciences, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0934-0602","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Qiming","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Geography and Centre for Geo-computation Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong"}]},{"given":"Zhifeng","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Geographical Sciences, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,5,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2516","DOI":"10.1080\/01431161.2011.616551","article-title":"An integrated spatio-temporal classification method for urban fringe change detection analysis","volume":"33","author":"Yang","year":"2012","journal-title":"Int. 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