German image spectral library of urban surface materials

The German image spectral library consists of 5102 labelled image spectra of urban surface materials covering the spectral wavelength range between 455 nm and 2449 nm. The spectra have been extracted from high resolution imaging spectroscopy data (HyMap) acquired over the German cities of Dresden (18/05/1999, 01/08/2000, 20/07/2003), Potsdam (18/05/1999) and Munich (17/06/2007, 25/06/2007). This image data package ensures the collection of the most typical urban surface materials including their variations due to different illumination, alteration, observation conditions, regional specifications and data processing characteristics.

The collection was done in two main steps: (1) manual collection of spectrally pure urban surface material pixels from the Dresden and Potsdam data sets including additional information, such as the results of field investigations, a field spectral library and color infrared aerial imagery (Heiden et al., 2007 ) and subsequent reduction for redundant pixel spectra; (2) spectral dissimilarity analysis to include and label meaningful unknow spectra from the Munich data set (Jilge et al. 2017 ). 

The image spectra are labelled based on three sets of spectra labels: one for EAGLE land cover (EAGLE_LCC, consult the “Explanatory Documentation of the EAGLE Concept” from the Copernicus Land website) , one for generalized material groupings (GENLIB_LCH_BuC_MG) and one for more detailed artificial material type (GENLIB_LCH_BuC_AMT).

While every effort was made to ensure accurate information, this data set is presented "as is" without warranties of any kind. The authors accept no liability or responsibility to any person as a consequence of any reliance upon the data presented here. The user assumes all responsibility and risk for the use of this data.