Investigation of the Potential for the Integration of AVIRIS and IFSAR for Urban Analysis

Understanding urban structures and processes is increasingly important as cities become the home of more of the earth’s population. This paper describes the use of a study area in Los Angeles, California to test the potential for integrative use of Interferometric Synthetic Aperature Radar (IFSAR) and Airborne Visible / Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) hyperspectral imagery for analysis of an urban area. Interferometric radar is used to define the three dimensional (3-D) geometry of the surface features, topography, and impervious surfaces of the study area. Hyperspectral data is used in this paper to supplement the radar measurement and interpretation by assisting in the delineation of features and textural components of the study area. Integrative use of AVIRIS and IFSAR is a useful approach to delineate urban geometric structure at a meaningful level of spatial detail, while providing textural information upon this structure which is extensible to the regional level.