BLINDED BY THE LIGHT: MONITORING LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OVER TIME WITH NIGHTLIGHT EMISSIONS

Lukas Kondmann; Hannes Taubenböck; Xiao Xiang Zhu

doi:10.1109/IGARSS47720.2021.9554428

BLINDED BY THE LIGHT: MONITORING LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OVER TIME WITH NIGHTLIGHT EMISSIONS

Lukas Kondmann
, Hannes Taubenböck
, Xiao Xiang Zhu

Chair of Data Science in Earth Observation

Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR)
Technical University of Munich
University of Würzburg

Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › peer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Nighttime light (NTL) emissions are widely used across disciplines to map the spatial distribution of a variety of socioeconomic variables. For economic studies, NTLs allow to proxy for levels of economic indicators at the country level as well as the local level. Further, multi-temporal differences in NTL intensity are also related to GDP differences on the country level. In this study, we investigate if this relation in temporal differences also holds for the local level. We test this with DMSP as well as VIIRS NTLs data from 2010-2015 in Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda. Even though we successfully map local levels of socio-economic status with NTLs, we find multi-temporal changes in NTLs at this local level to be uncorrelated with socio-economic development over time. We conclude that luminosity values based on current DMSP and VIIRS sensors are no silver bullet in measuring local economic changes over time and should, if at all, only be used with caution for this.

Original language	English
Pages	5708-5711
Number of pages	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS47720.2021.9554428
State	Published - 2021
Event	2021 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, IGARSS 2021 - Brussels, Belgium Duration: 12 Jul 2021 → 16 Jul 2021

Conference

Conference	2021 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, IGARSS 2021
Country/Territory	Belgium
City	Brussels
Period	12/07/21 → 16/07/21

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth

Keywords

Change Detection
Nighttime Lights
Poverty Mapping
Sustainable Development Goals

Access to Document

10.1109/IGARSS47720.2021.9554428

Cite this

@conference{06dd3f37c7ea4d62b26e015826caebed,

title = "BLINDED BY THE LIGHT: MONITORING LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OVER TIME WITH NIGHTLIGHT EMISSIONS",

abstract = "Nighttime light (NTL) emissions are widely used across disciplines to map the spatial distribution of a variety of socioeconomic variables. For economic studies, NTLs allow to proxy for levels of economic indicators at the country level as well as the local level. Further, multi-temporal differences in NTL intensity are also related to GDP differences on the country level. In this study, we investigate if this relation in temporal differences also holds for the local level. We test this with DMSP as well as VIIRS NTLs data from 2010-2015 in Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda. Even though we successfully map local levels of socio-economic status with NTLs, we find multi-temporal changes in NTLs at this local level to be uncorrelated with socio-economic development over time. We conclude that luminosity values based on current DMSP and VIIRS sensors are no silver bullet in measuring local economic changes over time and should, if at all, only be used with caution for this.",

keywords = "Change Detection, Nighttime Lights, Poverty Mapping, Sustainable Development Goals",

author = "Lukas Kondmann and Hannes Taubenb{\"o}ck and Zhu, \{Xiao Xiang\}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 IEEE; 2021 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, IGARSS 2021 ; Conference date: 12-07-2021 Through 16-07-2021",

year = "2021",

doi = "10.1109/IGARSS47720.2021.9554428",

language = "English",

pages = "5708--5711",

}

TY - CONF

T1 - BLINDED BY THE LIGHT

T2 - 2021 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, IGARSS 2021

AU - Kondmann, Lukas

AU - Taubenböck, Hannes

AU - Zhu, Xiao Xiang

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - Nighttime light (NTL) emissions are widely used across disciplines to map the spatial distribution of a variety of socioeconomic variables. For economic studies, NTLs allow to proxy for levels of economic indicators at the country level as well as the local level. Further, multi-temporal differences in NTL intensity are also related to GDP differences on the country level. In this study, we investigate if this relation in temporal differences also holds for the local level. We test this with DMSP as well as VIIRS NTLs data from 2010-2015 in Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda. Even though we successfully map local levels of socio-economic status with NTLs, we find multi-temporal changes in NTLs at this local level to be uncorrelated with socio-economic development over time. We conclude that luminosity values based on current DMSP and VIIRS sensors are no silver bullet in measuring local economic changes over time and should, if at all, only be used with caution for this.

AB - Nighttime light (NTL) emissions are widely used across disciplines to map the spatial distribution of a variety of socioeconomic variables. For economic studies, NTLs allow to proxy for levels of economic indicators at the country level as well as the local level. Further, multi-temporal differences in NTL intensity are also related to GDP differences on the country level. In this study, we investigate if this relation in temporal differences also holds for the local level. We test this with DMSP as well as VIIRS NTLs data from 2010-2015 in Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda. Even though we successfully map local levels of socio-economic status with NTLs, we find multi-temporal changes in NTLs at this local level to be uncorrelated with socio-economic development over time. We conclude that luminosity values based on current DMSP and VIIRS sensors are no silver bullet in measuring local economic changes over time and should, if at all, only be used with caution for this.

KW - Change Detection

KW - Nighttime Lights

KW - Poverty Mapping

KW - Sustainable Development Goals

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85113472394

U2 - 10.1109/IGARSS47720.2021.9554428

DO - 10.1109/IGARSS47720.2021.9554428

M3 - Paper

AN - SCOPUS:85113472394

SP - 5708

EP - 5711

Y2 - 12 July 2021 through 16 July 2021

ER -

BLINDED BY THE LIGHT: MONITORING LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OVER TIME WITH NIGHTLIGHT EMISSIONS

Abstract

Conference

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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Cite this