How to Extract Land Use Classes using ArcGIS Raster Calculator

The Raster Calculator is a powerful tool commonly used in geographic information system (GIS) software to perform map algebra operations on raster datasets.
You can use the Raster Calculator to perform various operations on a Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) raster dataset. Here are some common tasks you can accomplish:
1. Reclassification: You can reclassify different land cover classes into new categories based on specific criteria. For example, you could merge several classes into a single one or divide a class into subcategories.
2. Overlay Analysis: Perform overlay operations to identify areas where certain land cover types intersect or overlap. This can be useful for determining land cover changes or analyzing the spatial relationships between different land cover types.
3. Index Calculation: Calculate indices or metrics based on the LULC raster, such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for assessing vegetation health or the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) for identifying water bodies.
4. Change Detection: Compare multiple LULC raster datasets from different time periods to detect changes in land cover over time. You can subtract one raster from another to identify areas of change or calculate transition matrices to quantify land cover transitions.
5. Suitability Analysis: Use the LULC raster as input for suitability analysis to determine the suitability of different areas for specific purposes, such as agriculture, urban development, or conservation.
6. Buffering: Create buffers around specific land cover types or features in the LULC raster to analyze their influence on surrounding areas. This can be useful for assessing the impact of land cover changes or for planning purposes.
You can use the Raster Calculator to extract specific classes from a Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) raster dataset. Here's how you can do it:
1. Identify Classes: First, identify the classes you want to extract from the LULC raster. These could be individual land cover types such as forest, water bodies, urban areas, etc.
2. Build Expression: Use the Raster Calculator to create an expression that selects pixels corresponding to the classes you want to extract. The expression will typically involve a conditional statement that evaluates each pixel's value and assigns a new value (e.g., 1 for the class of interest and 0 for all other classes).
3. Run Calculation: Execute the expression in the Raster Calculator to generate a new raster layer where only the selected classes are represented.
4. View Results: Once the calculation is complete, you can visualize the extracted classes in the resulting raster layer.