• Spatial Information Research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.21-28
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• 2011

With the recent overcrowding of metropolitan cities and people's increasing interest in housing environment, there are frequent disputes occurring over the right to daylight. In order to determine whether daylight has been encroached accurately. we need to consider the daylight change by the effect of the geographical features of the surrounding areas but most of the previous relevant studies overlooked this consideration. Thus, in order to determine the encroachment of daylight accurately, this study analyzed the change in the duration of daylight according to geographical features by applying the Hemispherical Viewshed Algorithm to Busan Metropolitan City. According to the results of the analysis, the minimum and average duration of daylight decreased with an increase of altitude by 50m. Second, according to the time bound designated by law, up to 78.6% of the area was influenced by the duration of daylight. Third, the geographical features of the surrounding areas had a significant effect on the duration of daylight. Accordingly, in order to analyze the right to daylight accurately, it is essential to consider the geographical features of the surrounding areas. Furthermore, the Hemispherical Viewshed Algorithm used in this study and the visible area of the sky obtained from the algorithm are considered helpful to analyze the influence of the geographical features of surrounding areas on the legal duration of daylight before analyzing the practical right to daylight.