WaRM: A Roof Material Spectral Library for Wallonia, Belgium

Abstract

The exploitation of urban-material spectral properties is of increasing importance for a broad range of applications, such as urban climate-change modeling and mitigation or specific/dangerous roof-material detection and inventory. A new spectral library dedicated to the detection of roof material was created to reflect the regional diversity of materials employed in Wallonia, Belgium. The Walloon Roof Material (WaRM) spectral library accounts for 26 roof material spectra in the spectral range 350–2500 nm. Spectra were acquired using an ASD FieldSpec3 Hi-Res spectrometer in laboratory conditions, using a spectral sampling interval of 1 nm. The analysis of the spectra shows that spectral signatures are strongly influenced by the color of the roof materials, at least in the VIS spectral range. The SWIR spectral range is in general more relevant to distinguishing the different types of material. Exceptions are the similar properties and very close spectra of several black materials, meaning that their spectral signatures are not sufficiently different to distinguish them from each other. Although building materials can vary regionally due to different available construction materials, the WaRM spectral library can certainly be used for wider applications; Wallonia has always been strongly connected to the surrounding regions and has always encountered climatic conditions similar to all of Northwest Europe.