Application of DMSP/OLS Nighttime Light Images: A Meta-Analysis and a Systematic Literature Review <s> Demographic and Socioeconomic Information <s> Abstract Night-time satellite imagery, as provided by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's Operational Linescan System (DMSP OLS), shows promise as a proxy measurement of urban extent. Earlier efforts have shown that the areas of contiguous saturated DMSP OLS images show strong correlations with the total population living in those areas. This paper describes efforts at modeling the population density within the urban areas identified within the continental United States. These efforts build upon the previous efforts of Clark, Berry, Nordbeck, Tobler and others to describe the variation of population density within cities. The method described herein differs from the aforementioned theories because it operates from the edges of the urban areas rather than attempting to identify a “center” of the urban cluster. By measuring distance from the edge rather than the distance from the center this method allows for the “multiple nuclei” of urban clustering that have clearly manifested as a result of the conurbation of urban centers within the U.S.A. This paper describes the methods used to allocate population to one, two, three, five, and ten square kilometer pixels for the continental U.S.A. Several urban population decay functions are applied and evaluated. In addition, an empirical urban population density decay function is derived for all the urban clusters defined by the DMSP imagery. <s> BIB001 </s> Application of DMSP/OLS Nighttime Light Images: A Meta-Analysis and a Systematic Literature Review <s> Demographic and Socioeconomic Information <s> Background ::: Sub-national figures providing information about the wealth of the population are useful in defining the spatial distribution of both economic activity and poverty within any given country. Furthermore, since several health indicators such as life expectancy are highly correlated with household welfare, sub-national figures allow for the estimation of the distribution of these health indicators within countries when direct measurement is difficult. ::: ::: We have developed methods that utilize spatially distributed information, including night-time light imagery and population to model the distribution of income per capita, as a proxy for wealth, at the country and sub-national level to support the estimation of the distribution of correlated health indicators. <s> BIB002 </s> Application of DMSP/OLS Nighttime Light Images: A Meta-Analysis and a Systematic Literature Review <s> Demographic and Socioeconomic Information <s> Nightsat is a concept for a satellite system capable of global observation of the location, form and density of lighted infrastructure and development within human settlements. Nightsat’s repeat cycle should be sufficient to produce an annual cloud-free composite of surface lighting to enable detection of growth rates. Airborne and satellite imagery have been used to define the range of spatial, spectral, and detection limit options for a future Nightsat mission. Our conclusion is that Nightsat should collect data from a near-synchronous orbit in the early evening with 50–100 m spatial resolution and have detection limits of 2.5E−8 W cm−2 sr−1 μm−1 or better. Multispectral low-light imaging data would be better than panchromatic data by providing valuable information on the type or character of lighting, a potentially stronger predictor of variables such as ambient population density and economic activity. <s> BIB003 </s> Application of DMSP/OLS Nighttime Light Images: A Meta-Analysis and a Systematic Literature Review <s> Demographic and Socioeconomic Information <s> We have developed a novel methodology for analyzing the worldwide copper stock-in-use by using nighttime light images. Radiance calibrated nighttime light imaged data (RCD) for the entire world has been assembled from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Linescan System (OLS) by the National Geophysical Data Center. It has been recognized that the intensity of nighttime light is strongly associated with such aspects of human settlement as population density and energy consumption. We assumed that the presence of light implies the use of electrical conducting material, namely copper. The stock-in-use data for copper in Japan, North America, Australia and China were obtained from previous material flow analysis studies. We analyzed the relationship between light accumulation and the size of the copper stock in those countries. A significant correlation was found and the feasibility of this method was confirmed. We employed this method to analyze the stock-in-use in other Asian countries. The in-use stock of copper was correlated with the gross domestic product (GDP). [doi:10.2320/matertrans.M2009030] <s> BIB004 </s> Application of DMSP/OLS Nighttime Light Images: A Meta-Analysis and a Systematic Literature Review <s> Demographic and Socioeconomic Information <s> The spatial distribution of population density is crucial for analysing the relationships among economic growth, environmental protection and resource use. In this study we simulated China's population density in 1998 at 1 km×1 km resolution by integrating DMSP/OLS non-radiance-calibrated night-time images, SPOT/VGT 10-day maximum NDVI composite, population census data and vector county boundaries. Population density, both inside and outside of light patches, was estimated for four types of counties, which were classified according to their light characteristics. The model for estimating population density inside the light patches was developed based on a significant correlation between light intensity and population, while the model for estimating population density outside of light patches was constructed by combining Coulomb's law with electric field superposition principle. Our method was simpler and less expensive than existing methods for spatializing population density. The results were consistent with other estimates but exhibited more spatial heterogeneity and richer information. <s> BIB005 </s> Application of DMSP/OLS Nighttime Light Images: A Meta-Analysis and a Systematic Literature Review <s> Demographic and Socioeconomic Information <s> A global poverty map has been produced at 30arcsec resolution using a poverty index calculated by dividing population count (LandScan 2004) by the brightness of satellite observed lighting (DMSP nighttime lights). Inputs to the LandScan product include satellite-derived land cover and topography, plus human settlement outlines derived from high-resolution imagery. The poverty estimates have been calibrated using national level poverty data from the World Development Indicators (WDI) 2006 edition. The total estimate of the numbers of individuals living in poverty is 2.2 billion, slightly under the WDI estimate of 2.6 billion. We have demonstrated a new class of poverty map that should improve over time through the inclusion of new reference data for calibration of poverty estimates and as improvements are made in the satellite observation of human activities related to economic activity and technology access. <s> BIB006 </s> Application of DMSP/OLS Nighttime Light Images: A Meta-Analysis and a Systematic Literature Review <s> Demographic and Socioeconomic Information <s> Abstract All countries around the world and many international bodies, including the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the International Labor Organization (ILO), have to eliminate rural poverty. Estimation of regional poverty level is a key issue for making strategies to eradicate poverty. Most of previous studies on regional poverty evaluations are based on statistics collected typically in administrative units. This paper has discussed the deficiencies of traditional studies, and attempted to research regional poverty evaluation issues using 3-year DMSP/OLS night-time light satellite imagery. In this study, we adopted 17 socio-economic indexes to establish an integrated poverty index (IPI) using principal component analysis (PCA), which was proven to provide a good descriptor of poverty levels in 31 regions at a provincial scale in China. We also explored the relationship between DMSP/OLS night-time average light index and the poverty index using regression analysis in SPSS and a good positive linear correlation was modelled, with R 2 equal to 0.854. We then looked at provincial poverty problems in China based on this correlation. The research results indicated that the DMSP/OLS night-time light data can assist analysing provincial poverty evaluation issues. <s> BIB007 </s> Application of DMSP/OLS Nighttime Light Images: A Meta-Analysis and a Systematic Literature Review <s> Demographic and Socioeconomic Information <s> Since economic reforms in 1978, China's huge growth has led to a rapid increase in demand for freight traffic. Timely assessments of past and current amounts of freight traffic are basis for predicting future demands of freight traffic and appropriately allocating transportation resources. Sum lights (summed digital number (DN) value of pixels of nighttime light imagery) for years 2000, 2004, and 2008 respectively are extracted from corresponding Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) stable lights annual image composites. The sum lights are then regressed on total freight traffic (TFT), railway freight traffic (RFT), and highway freight traffic (HFT), respectively, at the province level. Results show that sum light strongly correlates to TFT and HFT, so sum light can be used as a proxy for TFT and HFT at the province level. However, due to lack of strong correlations between RFT and GDP, sum light is not appropriate to be as a proxy of RFT. Finally we disaggregate each province/municipality's HFT to each pixel in proportion to the DN value of the pixel of the nighttime light image to produce a Chinese HFT map of 2008 with 1 km × 1 km resolution. Compared to traditional census-based freight traffic data, the freight traffic data derived from the nighttime light imagery contain more spatial information. <s> BIB008 </s> Application of DMSP/OLS Nighttime Light Images: A Meta-Analysis and a Systematic Literature Review <s> Demographic and Socioeconomic Information <s> Obtaining timely and accurate data on the spatiotemporal dynamics of electric power consumption (EPC) is crucial for the effective utilization of electric power in China. The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) nighttime stable light (NSL) data have good potential for estimating EPC effectively at large scales. However, saturated lighted pixels contained within the NSL data limit the accuracy of EPC estimation. We developed a new method to correct the saturated lighted pixels, using the SPOT VEGETATION (SPOT/VGT) 10-day synthesis product (S10) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data and then modeled the spatiotemporal dynamics of EPC in Mainland China from 2000 to 2008. The results demonstrated the reliability of our approach with an average R value of 0.93 (P<0.001) and an average relative error of −28.92%. EPC in Mainland China showed an average annual growth rate of 13.46% during the study period from 1198.23 billion kWh in 2000 to 3290.51 billion kWh in 2008. EPC in Mainland China also showed clear regional variation. Northern coastal China and eastern coastal China consumed 37.61% of the total EPC in Mainland China, with only 25.96% of the population and 6.11% of the area. <s> BIB009
The second category of application focused on inferring socioeconomic development from the DMSP/OLS database BIB003 , as nighttime light images showed potential as a proxy for the intensity of human activity (Figure 4 ). Subcategories III, IV, and V belonged to this category, and included a total of 72 papers (Table 6 ). The two most common parameters extracted from the DMSP/OLS database were population (30 articles), GDP (18 papers), and energy and electric consumption (15 articles). Other parameters, such as income BIB002 , copper stock BIB004 , and freight traffic BIB008 also attracted researchers' attention. Studies on extracting demographic and socioeconomic information from DMSP/OLS nighttime images can be divided into two types. The first is to construct statistical relationships between nighttime light data and a particular aggregated parameter at a specific geographic extent, without considering the spatial distribution of this parameter. Lit areas and cumulative DN values within lit areas, as well as post-processed three-dimensional DN values, have been used to develop statistical models. The statistical methods also varied from linear regression to nonlinear regression; for example, He et al. BIB009 established a linear regression model between saturated corrected DN values of light images and electric power consumption in China, and yielded consistently reliable results for 2000-2008 compared to the original statistical data. Lo  proposed a method for constructing logarithmic regression models between urban indicators (i.e., GDP, build-up area, electricity consumption) and surface area as well as volume of light extracted from the triangulated irregular network functionality. The results showed that the volume of light performed slightly better than the surface area of light for estimating these parameters for 35 Chinese cities. The second type of study is to map the distribution of particular parameters in space. The relationship between the light images and population density is a prevalent topic. Researchers have not only evaluated the relationship between light intensity distribution and population density from census data BIB001  , but have also used ancillary spatial information such as enhanced vegetation index and digital elevation models to improve the mapping accuracy. For example, Zhuo et al. BIB005 modeled population density in counties where light was too weak to detect based on Coulomb's Law with the electric field superposition principle, and digital elevation information. The results was consistent with census data and provided more spatial information on population density in China. The distribution of light intensity can be used to further estimate the density of energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and economic activity. In addition, DMSP/OLS nighttime images can be used as an ancillary proxy to assess the degree of development at different scales  . For example, a global poverty map was produced by combining DMSP/OLS data with the world population distribution from LandScan 2004 BIB006 . A provincial level poverty assessment was also carried out by comparing the integrated poverty index from statistical censuses with the average light index from DMSP/OLS data in China BIB007 .