us population density map high resolution

WorldPop 5, High-Resolution Settlement Layer (HRSL) 6, 7 and GRID3 8, have been made available publicly to aid humanitarian initiatives. Estimating finer-resolution intercensal population, e.g., over a 100 m grid, has received significant interest in the last decade, and several population maps, e.g. During the intercensal period, projections of the population are available at a coarser enumeration level that is estimated either using birth, death, and migration rates 3, 4, or through combining sample household surveys using small area estimation 2. However, this is an extremely expensive endeavor, and therefore they are typically conducted every 10 years 2. Censuses provide a ‘gold standard’ population map by surveying every individual household nationally. through the fulfillment of sustainable development goals 1. Similar content being viewed by othersĪccurate population maps are critical for planning infrastructure and distributing resources, including public health interventions and disaster relief, as well as monitoring well-being e.g. We observe that our approach matches the most accurate of these maps, and is interpretable in the sense that it recognises built-up areas to be an informative indicator of population. We compare the resulting population estimates to existing population products from GRID3, Facebook (HRSL) and WorldPop. Using representation learning reduces required human supervision, since features are extracted automatically, making the process of population estimation more sustainable and likely to be transferable to other regions or countries. We explore recent representation learning approaches, and assess the transferability of representations to population estimation in Mozambique.

Existing approaches, however, require significant human supervision, for example annotating buildings and accessing various public datasets, and therefore, are not easily reproducible. Census-independent population estimation approaches using alternative data sources, such as satellite imagery, have shown promise in providing frequent and reliable population estimates locally. Population can change in the intercensal period due to rapid migration, development, urbanisation, natural disasters, and conflicts. Although censuses can provide this information, they are typically conducted every 10 years with some countries having forgone the process for several decades. Knowledge of population distribution is critical for building infrastructure, distributing resources, and monitoring the progress of sustainable development goals.

Us population density map high resolution