The study site consists of 29 counties in the Atlanta metropolitan
area, Georgia, USA (Fig. 2). Specifically, it includes Hall County
and the 28-county “AtlantaeSandy SpringseMarietta” Metropolitan
Statistical Area (MSA) as designated by the U.S. Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) in 2010. The Hall County is
included for various planning purposes by the Atlanta Regional
Commission (ARC) outside the MSA. Georgia's capital and largest
city, City of Atlanta, resides in the center of the region. The study
area also includes many smaller cities and emerging suburbs and
exurbs. The total area is approximately 23,072 km2, which strides
across three Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) image scenes.