Using Nighttime Satellite Imagery as a Proxy Measure of Human Well-Being

Sustainability

Tilottama Ghosh²  Sharolyn J. Anderson¹  Christopher D. Elvidge³ 

[1] School of Natural and Built Environments and The Barbara Hardy Institute, University of South Australia, Adelaide 5001, Australia; E-Mails:;Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA;NOAA National Geophysical Data Center, Boulder, CO 80305, USA; E-Mail:

关键词: nighttime lights imagery;    LandScan population data;    human well-being;    Night Light Development Index (NLDI);    Gross Domestic Product;    informal economy;    poverty rates;    electrification rates;    human ecological footprint;   

DOI  :  10.3390/su5124988

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Improving human well-being is increasingly recognized as essential for movement toward a sustainable and desirable future. Estimates of different aspects of human well-being, such as Gross Domestic Product, or percentage of population with access to electric power, or measuring the distribution of income in society are often fraught with problems. There are few standardized methods of data collection; in addition, the required data is not obtained in a reliable manner and on a repetitive basis in many parts of the world. Consequently, inter-comparability of the data that does exist becomes problematic. Data derived from nighttime satellite imagery has helped develop various globally consistent proxy measures of human well-being at the gridded, sub-national, and national level. We review several ways in which nighttime satellite imagery has been used to measure the human well-being within nations.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.