AIRBORNE REMOTE SENSING FOR MAPPING ASBESTOS ROOFS IN AOSTA VALLEY Federico FRASSY (a) , Gabriele CANDIANI (a) , Pieralberto MAIANTI (a) , Andrea MARCHESI (a) , Francesco ROTA NODARI (a) , Marco RUSMINI (a) , Carlo ALBONICO (b) , Marco GIANINETTO (a),(*) (a) Laboratory of Remote Sensing (L@RS), Politecnico di Milano - Building Environment Sciences and Technology (BEST) Department, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, ITALY (b) ARPA Valle d’Aosta, Loc. Grande Charrière, 44 11020 Saint-Christophe (AO), ITALY (*) corresponding author: e-mail: marco.gianinetto@polimi.it, http://www.remotesensing.polimi.it ABSTRACT This paper describes the use of airborne hyperspectral remote sensing for mapping asbestos roofs in an orographic complex area in Northern Italy, the Aosta Valley. Using training samples collected during field surveys, thematic classification was able to detect the majority of asbestos surfaces. Considering the total amount of asbestos areas validation showed a correct detection of about 80%, while considering the number of asbestos roofs correctly detected this value decreased to 43%. This difference pointed out a clear relationship between data spatial resolution and asbestos roofs area. The study served as a first approach to an extensive use of the remote sensing technology for asbestos mapping over large areas and the encouraging results will support Public Administrations for decision making strategies and policies for their removal. Index Terms — Hyperspectral, Aerial Survey, Remote Sensing, Asbestos, Mapping. 1. INTRODUCTION Products containing asbestos were banned from the European Union with the Council Directive 76/769/EEC of 27 July 1976 on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to restrictions on the marketing and use of certain dangerous substances and preparations [1]. The Italian legislation forbade the “extraction, import, export, marketing and productions of asbestos or products containing asbestos” in 1992 with the Law 257/92 [2]. Nevertheless, materials containing asbestos were largely used in Italy from 1950 to 1980 as building materials and, particularly, as roofing material for both commercial and domestic applications (e.g., fibre cement cladding, asbestos cement) [3]. Recent studies showed many documented cases of mesothelioma from chrysotile asbestos, the most used because credited less hazardous than other asbestos minerals, that could be only an iceberg tip of an epidemic potential global scale cancer by asbestos exposure [4], [5], [6], [7], [8]. Finally, on 12 February 2012 the conviction for Eternit industry owners of Casale Monferrato (Alessandria, Italy) and Cavagnolo (Turin, Italy) represents the last confirm that products containing asbestos are a threat to public health [9]. In this context, remote sensing technology could be a powerful tool for mapping asbestos roofs and for supporting decision making strategies and policies for their removal. In past years few studies showed the potentialities of both satellite data [10] and airborne data [2], [11], [12], [13] for this purpose but all of them focused more on the methodology, with case histories limited to small study areas, rather than on an extensive use of remote sensing for mapping large areas. This paper shows how airborne hyperspectral imaging could be used for mapping asbestos roofs on extended domain, in an orographic complex area such as the Aosta Valley in Northern Italy. 7541 978-1-4673-1159-5/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE IGARSS 2012