Light Pollution Analysis Using Hi-Resolution Night Aerial Lighting Maps

Abstract

Light pollution visualisation is mostly known from the public thanks to the large scale satellite images and the ones taken from the ISS (International Space Station). It appears obvious that the human activity has a strong impact on the environment and those images are useful to illustrate the phenomenon.Today, the cities lighting optimisation is an important line of work. Responding to human kind needs is not the only objective anymore. It has to deal with reasonable energy consumption and preservation of biodiversity.Combined with the in-house knowledge and existing data (providing from ground studies), the use of hi-resolution night aerial lighting maps has proven ability to give precise technical information on light pollution sources identification and lighting points localisation. The endusers maps are also particularly powerful to build awareness for both the general public and the decision makers to the light pollution and to motivate renovation projects.