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Night Light Data
Night Light Data
Introduction
Introduction
Night Lights is a great way to observe and identify global population patterns. In this chapter we attempted to identify regions with high probability of containing low income families in Sri Lanka using night light data. For this purpose we used Global Night Light data from NASA’s Black Marble and Google Earth and population density maps of Sri Lanka.
Our strategy was to identify the populated areas with no night lights. The logic we used here is that if there’s a populated region without light or very few light containing places we assume that that region may contain low families as they may not afford lightings.
World Night Light Map 2016
World Night Light Map 2016
Global Night Light map of 2016 (last updated) from NASA’s Black Marble
Inputs
Inputs
1. Night lights of Sri Lanka
2. Population Density Map of Sri Lanka
Night Lights of Sri Lanka from Google Earth
Night Lights of Sri Lanka from Google Earth
Output
Output
Discovered Areas with low income families according to night light data
Discovered Areas with low income families according to night light data
Comparison
Comparison
Limitations of the data
Limitations of the data
Even though we were able to get a rough idea about the low income regions through this process. There are lots of limitations and bigger room for errors. Some of the limitations are as follows.
Data is not updated. The last updated night light from Black Marble was done in 2016. And the population density map is also not up to date. Therefore data and our output are inaccurate.
Even though a certain area has a comparative Population. Most of that population can be concentrated to a pointed area. Therefore even a selected area can be a depopulated area.
Due to the size of the island and the altitude of Black Marble from the surface every light may not be visible.
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