Remote sensing data is widely used to monitor the spatial distribution and expansion of urban settlements, as it provides a detailed understanding of the land cover of an area. Terrain, built-up and vacant areas. The Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI) is essential for mapping settlements and built-up areas, although its use has some limitations. This study aimed to use the NDBI index to identify built-up areas in the study area based on satellite imagery from the LANDSAT ETM + satellite. The Absheron Peninsula, which represents the most densely populated area in the region, was chosen as the study site. The proposed application-based (NDBI) index approach separates urban areas from undeveloped vacant land. Moreover, the proposed method confirms the original assumption that a positive value of the NDBI index indicates built-up areas of the territory, and a positive value of the normalized relative vegetation index (NDVI) indicates the presence of areas covered with vegetation.