HyMap

HyMap (Hyperspectral Mapper) is an airborne hyperspectral imaging instrument used for remote sensing. It was developed in the late 1990s by HyVista Corp in Australia to provide high-spectral-resolution data with finer spatial detail than spaceborne sensors at that time. The sensor operates as a pushbroom spectrometer collecting data in many narrow contiguous spectral bands across the visible to shortwave infrared region, typically from about 450 to 2500 nanometers. HyMap data yield hundreds of spectral channels per image, enabling detailed discrimination of materials and subtle variation in vegetation, soils, and minerals. The instrument is flown aboard aircraft to produce georeferenced data products, with spatial resolution depending on flight altitude and optics; swath width is sufficient for regional mapping.

Applications include vegetation mapping and health assessment, precision agriculture, mineral exploration, geology, land-cover classification, environmental monitoring, and disaster response. HyMap data have been used to identify crop types, detect stress in forests, map mineralogical assemblages, and monitor environmental pollutants.

Processing generally involves radiometric calibration, atmospheric correction, geometric correction, and registration to a map geometry. Spectral analysis methods commonly applied include endmember extraction, spectral unmixing, and library-based matching.

HyMap contributed to the development of airborne hyperspectral sensing and is frequently cited alongside instruments such as AVIRIS and CASI in remote sensing literature. The technology has evolved with subsequent sensors and is part of a broader transition to hyperspectral data in environmental monitoring.