Preparing land cover maps from remote sensing data for mapping, providing operational reports, and obtaining information to advance scientific activities are essential. With free access to satellite images, this type of map production has increased. Map accuracy is important for effective monitoring and providing solutions to increase the quality of the environment, and it plays a decisive role in planning for sustainable urban development. This study was written to prepare land cover maps in Tehran using Landsat 8 and Landsat 5 satellite images in the period 1989-2023. The importance of this research lies in providing a comparison between the two software Arc GIS and MATLAB, for preparing these maps. Two tools whose output can be used for decision-making in the field of urban planning, land management, and assessing the urban carrying capacity. The results of this research showed that significant changes have occurred in the vegetation cover classes, built and barren space during this period. The numerical value of built-up area had an upward trend, while the vegetation and barren areas experienced a downward trend. The fluctuation of changes for these indicators was calculated as (19.567 - 23.275), (45.144 - 32.81) and (17.310 - 64.61) km2, respectively. The amount of water area was also estimated in the range (1.33 - 0.21). The output of the images obtained from the Arc GIS software was used as the input of the MATLAB software to compare the capabilities of the two software in preparing land cover maps. ,