← Back to Hyderabad, explained with data
Where Hyderabad lit up
What this measures: How far the lit area of Hyderabad's west spread between 2012 and 2026, shown as four satellite night images of the same area.
Method: NASA GIBS VIIRS night images (SNPP gap-filled layer); the image for each year is a median of the listed nights in late January to February. Same crop every year. Rings mark approximate place centres. This is a picture, not a measurement of light.
Data through: 2026-02 (Jan-Feb 2026 nights)
Caveats
Display tiles, not radiance; numeric radiance needs an Earthdata login (not used).
Bright core saturates, so the image cannot show growth there.
Only SNPP gap-filled frames used (not Black Marble) so products are not mixed.
Locality rings are approximate centres (Kondapur/Bachupally/Future City flagged low confidence in W1; HITEC City point is the Nominatim/approximate centre).
Cropped to lon 78.16-78.42, lat 17.375-17.575; identical crop for each year.
Every figure used in the chart
### Images used (same area every year)
| Year | Frame | NASA layer | Nights used | Frame area (degrees) | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | nightlights-2012-hyd-frame | VIIRS_SNPP_GapFilled_BRDF_Corrected_DayNightBand_Radiance | 11 nights, 2012-01-25 to 2012-02-27 | lon 78.1-78.8, lat 17.05-17.7 | reported (NASA image) | NASA GIBS WMS - VIIRS_Black_Marble and VIIRS_SNPP_GapFilled_BRDF_Co..., NASA Global Imagery Browse Services (ESDIS), 2012 [1] |
| 2016 | nightlights-2016-hyd-frame | VIIRS_SNPP_GapFilled_BRDF_Corrected_DayNightBand_Radiance | 12 nights, 2016-01-25 to 2016-02-27 | lon 78.1-78.8, lat 17.05-17.7 | reported (NASA image) | NASA GIBS WMS - VIIRS_Black_Marble and VIIRS_SNPP_GapFilled_BRDF_Co..., NASA Global Imagery Browse Services (ESDIS), 2012 [1] |
| 2020 | nightlights-2020-hyd-frame | VIIRS_SNPP_GapFilled_BRDF_Corrected_DayNightBand_Radiance | 12 nights, 2020-01-25 to 2020-02-27 | lon 78.1-78.8, lat 17.05-17.7 | reported (NASA image) | NASA GIBS WMS - VIIRS_Black_Marble and VIIRS_SNPP_GapFilled_BRDF_Co..., NASA Global Imagery Browse Services (ESDIS), 2012 [1] |
| 2026 | nightlights-2026-hyd-frame | VIIRS_SNPP_GapFilled_BRDF_Corrected_DayNightBand_Radiance | 12 nights, 2026-01-25 to 2026-02-27 | lon 78.1-78.8, lat 17.05-17.7 | reported (NASA image) | NASA GIBS WMS - VIIRS_Black_Marble and VIIRS_SNPP_GapFilled_BRDF_Co..., NASA Global Imagery Browse Services (ESDIS), 2012 [1] |
### Places ringed (approximate centres)
| Place ringed on the image | Latitude | Longitude | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HITEC City / Madhapur | 17.45081 | 78.38345 | our analysis (approximate centre) | Nominatim search results for each locality (cache/nominatim.json), OpenStreetMap Foundation, 2026 [2] |
| Financial District / Nanakramguda | 17.41298 | 78.33863 | our analysis (approximate centre) | Nominatim search results for each locality (cache/nominatim.json), OpenStreetMap Foundation, 2026 [3] |
| Kokapet | 17.39486 | 78.33652 | our analysis (approximate centre) | Nominatim search results for each locality (cache/nominatim.json), OpenStreetMap Foundation, 2026 [4] |
| Kollur | 17.44447 | 78.2516 | our analysis (approximate centre) | Nominatim search results for each locality (cache/nominatim.json), OpenStreetMap Foundation, 2026 [5] |
| Bachupally | 17.546 | 78.383 | our analysis (approximate centre) | Nominatim search results for each locality (cache/nominatim.json), OpenStreetMap Foundation, 2026 [6] |
| Mokila | 17.42632 | 78.1881 | our analysis (approximate centre) | Nominatim search results for each locality (cache/nominatim.json), OpenStreetMap Foundation, 2026 [7] |
Quoted source passages
The number in square brackets in the table points to the exact passage copied from the source page.
1. "VIIRS_Black_Marble: time dimension = 2012-01-01/2012-01-01/P1Y,2016-01-01/2016-01-01/P1Y" 2. "HITEC City, Ward 107 Madhapur, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation West Zone, Hyderabad, Serilingampalle mandal, Ranga Reddy, Telangana, 500081, India" 3. "Financial District, Gandipet mandal, Ranga Reddy, Telangana, 500075, India" 4. "Kokapet, Manchirevula, Gandipet mandal, Ranga Reddy, Telangana, 500075, India" 5. "Kollur, Ramachandrapuram mandal, Sangareddy, Telangana, India" 6. "Bachupally mandal, Medchal–Malkajgiri, Telangana, India" 7. "Mokila, Shankarpalle mandal, Ranga Reddy, Telangana, India"
Download
The CSV files stay private for now. Files behind this page:
`w1_satellite/frames.json`: 4 rows used in this chart, of 12 in the file
`w1_satellite/localities_verified.json`: 6 rows used in this chart, of 27 in the file
Links
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