Evaluation of land consolidation projects with parcel shape and dispersion

Similar to many of the world?s countries, Turkey has spent a large amount of money, time and effort on land consolidation (LC) work each year to provide the infrastructure required by agricultural lands, to minimize the problem of land fragmentation, to ensure the protection of agricultural lands, to increase agricultural production, to provide socioeconomic development in rural areas and to protect the rural landscape. However, not enough attention is given to the assessment of LC success. In this study, an approach is presented to assess the success of LC environmentally as measured by the number of parcels and parcel shape, which are important parameters related to LC project success. The EiCEN, EiLAP, and MBG_DoP indices were used to determine the dispersion of parcels owned by landowners. Minimum bounding geometry (i.e., the PAMPA, PPMBD and MBLW indices) was used for the analysis of parcel shape before and after LC. The indices proposed by this study are easily calculated parameters and can be important indicators in determining the success of a project after its termination.