Study of spectral reflectance characteristics of an urban environment — Case study of Kanpur city

Spectral reflectance Studies have been carried out on various features (man-made as well as natural) with reference to urban environment using a portable spectro-radiometer in wavelength regions ranging from 0.45 to 1.0 μm of Kanpur city and its surrounding areas. The signature values, thus collected, were used to draw spectral reflectance curves of each feature separately and to determine/select the optimum wavelength regions suitable for urban area studies. It has been observed that the best band width suitable for urban feature discrimination are between 0.45 to 0.55 μm (blue region) & 0.69 to 0.80 μm (near-infrared region) of the spectrum.