• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.39-50
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• 2001

There has been considerable controversy over the changes in the size of the beaches in the Pusan area; any loss of beach area will have an immense effect on the tourism industry, which is an important source of income for the local economy. The best beaches in Korea are in the Pusan area and were visited by more than 8 million persons in 2000. It is expected that the number of visitors, drawn to the scenic vistas and convenient facilities of this area, will increase annually. Any loss in the size of these swimming beaches will have an important negative effect on tourism income. Therefore, the local governments have gone to great lengths to preserve these beaches, transporting tens of thousands of tons of sand to the beaches before they open each year at a cost of billions of won annually. In this study, we analyzed aerial photographs and tide data for the past 50 years using digital aerial photo analysis and GIS techniques for each 3-year interval. We abstracted beach DEM (digital elevation model) and ortho aerial photographs, and conducted a space analysis. As a result, we were able to identify changes in the area and width of sections of Haeundae Beach.