TERRITORIAL ANALYSIS THROUGH A CARTOGRAPHIC MODEL IN SAN LUIS HUEXOTLA, TEXCOCO, MEXICO

Abstract

During recent decades the change in land occupation has been the result of a process that is derived from the urban growth affecting directly the lands used for agricultural activities. This entails a profound transformation in formerly rural territories and incurs in modifications of phenomena inside them, provoking geographic, economic, political, cultural and environmental changes. The locality of San Luis Huexotla, Texcoco, México, shows fast transformation processes which are not entirely understood in agricultural zones, and constitutes the study area of this study, which was focused in the analysis of change in land use occupation from agricultural to urban in the last twenty years influenced by the process referred through a cartographic model. Digital images were used that provide a geospatial dimension of the territory and constitute an innovating tool for the use of geographic information systems in social studies. In the model, data were incorporated from a broad survey on ejidatarios that contributed to the illustration of the current situation of agricultural production. The results exhibit the strong relationship between the changes in land occupation and socioeconomic factors that have influenced the transformation of the territory and impacted agricultural activities during the period of 1996-2016.