1984 Click on image thumbnail for full resolution image	2004 Click on image thumbnail for full resolution image

Twenty years separate these two Landsat thematic mapper images of Munich, the state capital of the German Bundesland of Bavaria.

Munich is situated on the banks of the river Isar which shapes the green structure of the inner city and can be seen snaking through the centre of the images. Munich is situated in the Munich plain, a glacial and postglacial outwash of limestone gravel which is rhombic in shape.

Munich is one of the most densely built-up urban areas in Germany. There is a continuing strong need to build new houses but land available for development is scarce. Densification of the city has been favoured by the planners to contain urban sprawl and a strategy called 'Compact - Urban - Green' was adopted.

You can see from the images that the city of Munich itself is very densely built-up. The population has remained stable since the 1970s. However, due to increasing demands, the pressure on greenstructure continues to be very high. We can see the growth of the transport networks from a comparison of the two images. This includes the S-Bahn which can be seen to the west of the 2004 image.

The large bright area to the northeast of the city is Munich International Airport, named Franz Josef Strauß International Airport, located 28 kilometres North of Munich. It began operations in 1992, replacing the former international Airport in München-Riem which operated until 1985.