Pavement management using hyperspectral imagery

Public Works facilities require up-to-date information on the health status of the road network they maintain. However, roadway maintenance and rehabilitation involves the greatest portion of a municipality's annual operating budget. Government officials use various technologies such as a pavement management system to assist in making better decisions about their roadways systems, pavement condition, history, and projects. Traditionally, manual surveying has served as the method of obtaining this information. To better assist in decision-making, a regionally specific spectral library for urban areas is being developed and used in conjunction with hyperspecrtal imaging, to map urban materials and pavement conditions. A Geographical Information and Positioning System (GIS/GPS) will also be implemented to overlay relative locations. This paper will examine the benefits of using hyperspectral imaging over traditional methods of roadway maintenance and rehabilitation for pavement management applications. In doing so, we will identify spatial and spectral requirements for successful large-scale road feature extraction.