Satellite imagery helps assess sustainable development with machine learning.
problem Lack of ground data on sustainable development outcomes.
method Combining satellite imagery with machine learning to model outcomes.
result Machine learning models perform well across multiple sustainable development domains.
Study uses cGAN to translate multispectral to nighttime satellite imagery.
problem Limited understanding of nighttime satellite imagery composition.
method Adopted and modified pix2pix cGAN framework for multispectral-to-nighttime translation.
result Proves feasibility of multispectral-to-nighttime translation.
Unsupervised method removes satellite noise without paired data.
problem Image artifacts from satellite sensor noises affect quality and applications.
method Wavelet subband cycleGAN using adversarial and cycle-consistency losses.
result Effectively removes satellite noise while preserving high frequency features.
Satellite imagery improves house price prediction models.
problem Improving accuracy of housing price estimation models.
method Transfer learning from ImageNet-pretrained Inception-v3 model to satellite images.
result Achieved a 10% improvement in R-squared score.
Obtaining detailed and reliable data about local economic livelihoods in developing countries is expensive, and data are consequently scarce. Previous work has shown that it is possible to measure local-level economic livelihoods using high-resolution satellite imagery. However, such imagery is relatively expensive to …
Deep learning models perform variably across continents/seasons in land cover mapping.
problem Variability in deep learning model performance across different continents/seasons.
method Clustering techniques on satellite imagery from different continents.
result Model performance varies significantly between different continents/seasons.
Satellite imagery and ML improve livelihood measurements and estimate electrification's impact.
problem Sparse data hinders policy development and evaluation.
method Satellite imagery, machine learning, and ML inference techniques.
result Grid access improves rural asset wealth by 0.17 standard deviations.
Land use classification of low resolution spatial imagery is one of the most extensively researched fields in remote sensing. Despite significant advancements in satellite technology, high resolution imagery lacks global coverage and can be prohibitively expensive to procure for extended time periods. Accurately classi…
Study uses aerial or satellite imagery to improve land price prediction in Thailand.
problem Limited accuracy of traditional land price prediction methods.
method Proposes a similarity-based asset valuation model using Siamese-inspired Neural Network and ensembles deep learning and tree-based models.
result Achieves an AUC of approximately 0.81, outperforming traditional methods.
HighRes-net enhances satellite imagery by fusing multiple low-res views.
problem Super-resolving satellite imagery for reliable monitoring of human impact.
method End-to-end deep learning approach for multi-frame super-resolution.
result HighRes-net outperformed in European Space Agency's MFSR competition.
Satellite imagery helps adjust for unobserved confounders in observational studies.
problem Adjusting for confounding factors in observational studies with non-tabular data like satellite imagery.
method Formalizing conditions for causal effect identification, estimation, and sensitivity analysis.
result Demonstrated the use of satellite imagery as a proxy for unobserved confounders in anti-poverty aid programs.
A cased-based reasoning method predicts rare events on strategic sites using satellite imagery.
problem Manual prediction of rare events on strategic sites is impractical due to large datasets.
method Case-based reasoning approach incorporating expert knowledge for irregular time series and small datasets.
result The method significantly outperforms random selection on challenging applications.
Roads are critically important infrastructure to societal and economic development, with huge investments made by governments every year. However, methods for monitoring those investments tend to be time-consuming, laborious, and expensive, placing them out of reach for many developing regions. In this work, we develop…
In this paper, the authors aim to combine the latest state of the art models in image recognition with the best publicly available satellite images to create a system for landslide risk mitigation. We focus first on landslide detection and further propose a similar system to be used for prediction. Such models are valu…
Study uses remotely sensed data to infer economic outcomes in experiments and quasi-experiments.
problem Imperfect measurement of economic outcomes by remotely sensed variables.
method Combines experimental and observational data to identify causal parameters, using satellite imagery and mobile phone activity.
result Developed a robust method for n^{-1/2} inference that does not restrict remotely sensed variable processing algorithms.
In all types of disasters, from earthquakes to armed conflicts, aid workers need accurate and timely data such as damage to buildings and population displacement to mount an effective response. Remote sensing provides this data at an unprecedented scale, but extracting operationalizable information from satellite image…
FedSpace optimizes ML training on satellites and ground stations.
problem Training machine learning models on satellites with limited bandwidth.
method Federated Learning framework that dynamically schedules model aggregation based on satellite orbits.
result Reduces training time by 1.7 days over state-of-the-art algorithms.
Detecting and mapping informal settlements encompasses several of the United Nations sustainable development goals. This is because informal settlements are home to the most socially and economically vulnerable people on the planet. Thus, understanding where these settlements are is of paramount importance to both gove…
New methods detect roads in low-res satellite data, overcoming visibility challenges.
problem Detecting roads in low-resolution satellite imagery, especially those hard to see.
method Two deep learning frameworks for ordinal classification of road types from satellite time series data.
result Models can identify large and medium-sized roads from Sentinel-2 imagery.
High-resolution satellite imagery have been increasingly used on remote sensing classification problems. One of the main factors is the availability of this kind of data. Even though, very little effort has been placed on the zebra crossing classification problem. In this letter, crowdsourcing systems are exploited in …
New method detects TC imagery patterns for rapid intensity change.
problem Detecting upcoming rapid intensity changes in TC satellite imagery.
method Nonparametric test of association between images and event labels using neural networks and bootstrap.
result Identifies archetypes of infrared imagery associated with elevated rapid intensification risk.
Satellite imagery and remote sensing provide explanatory variables at relatively high resolutions for modeling geospatial phenomena, yet regional summaries are often desirable for analysis and actionable insight. In this paper, we propose a novel method of inducing spatial aggregations as a component of the machine lea…
This paper presents a useful method to achieve classification in satellite imagery. The approach is based on pixel level study employing various features such as correlation, homogeneity, energy and contrast. In this study gray-scale images are used for training the classification model. For supervised classification, …
The paper classifies U.S. crop types using hyperspectral satellite imagery.
problem Classifying crop types from hyperspectral satellite imagery.
method Gaussian Bayesian models and neural networks applied to NASA data.
result Bayesian methods outperform standard LDA and QDA.
Procedural terrain generation for video games has been traditionally been done with smartly designed but handcrafted algorithms that generate heightmaps. We propose a first step toward the learning and synthesis of these using recent advances in deep generative modelling with openly available satellite imagery from NAS…
Mapping the spatial distribution of poverty in developing countries remains an important and costly challenge. These "poverty maps" are key inputs for poverty targeting, public goods provision, political accountability, and impact evaluation, that are all the more important given the geographic dispersion of the remain…
Improved satellite image captions enhance descriptiveness without large models.
problem Extracting meaningful text from satellite imagery.
method Evaluated seven models on a large benchmark, extended vocabulary, and introduced a novel confusion matrix.
result Reduced model size by 100x without sacrificing accuracy, offering new deployment opportunities.
The UN Sustainable Development Goals allude to the importance of infrastructure quality in three of its seventeen goals. However, monitoring infrastructure quality in developing regions remains prohibitively expensive and impedes efforts to measure progress toward these goals. To this end, we investigate the use of wid…
Method uses aggregate crop statistics to improve satellite-based crop type mapping.
problem Limited field-level crop labels for training satellite-based maps.
method Corrects classifier by accounting for shifts in crop type composition and feature means.
result Substantial improvements in overall classification accuracy, reducing misclassifications by 21.9% on average.
Satellite images predict U.S. county mortality rates.
problem Predicting mortality rates in U.S. counties using satellite imagery.
method Convolutional neural network trained on crude mortality rates, learned features interpreted using Shapley Additive Feature Explanations.
result Predicted mortality from satellite images correlated strongly with true mortality rates (Pearson r=0.72).
Generative adversarial approach for satellite image time series land cover classification.
problem Enhance interpretability of land cover classification models.
method Generative adversarial counterfactual approach for multi-class land cover classification.
result Discovery of interesting information on land cover class relationships and sparser, interpretable solutions.
Paper proposes decision-theoretic approach to combat wildfires.
problem Complexity and uncertainty in wildfire management.
method Partially-observable Markov decision process and data-driven model.
result Forecasting model accurately models wildfire spread.
New method extracts features from large datasets using transport operators.
problem Feature extraction for complex, large datasets.
method Transport operators on graphs to generalize diffusion processes.
result Flexibility and ability to quantify new relationships in datasets.
Study uses satellite and lidar data to map forest height and biomass in France.
problem Mapping forest resources and carbon in large areas.
method Machine learning approach using Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, ALOS-2, and GEDI Lidar data.
result High-resolution maps of forest height and biomass produced with good accuracy.
Cross-prediction improves inference from small labeled datasets.
problem Valid inference from small labeled datasets with imperfect predictions.
method Imputes missing labels via machine learning and debiases predictions.
result Inferences achieve desired error probability and are more powerful.
Detecting and mapping informal settlements encompasses several of the United Nations sustainable development goals. This is because informal settlements are home to the most socially and economically vulnerable people on the planet. Thus, understanding where these settlements are is of paramount importance to both gove…
Expanding self-supervised learning to diverse domains reveals Rotation's semantic superiority.
problem Limited self-supervised learning experiments on diverse domains.
method Experimented on various domains (satellite, textural, biological) using popular self-supervised methods.
result Rotation task is semantically most meaningful, with other tasks relying on distribution rather than semantic understanding.
CNNs improve InSAR image denoising and coherence estimation.
problem Noise in InSAR imagery corrupts ground movement estimates.
method Autoencoder CNN architectures for denoising and preprocessing.
result Proposed method outperforms four established methods.
Method quantifies forest cover changes due to human activities using satellite data.
problem Quantify forest cover changes due to human activities.
method Computer vision, machine learning/deep learning, Bayesian structural causal model.
result Causal inference of forest cover changes due to human activities.
Paper introduces multi-scale methods to improve CATE estimation from EO data.
problem Challenges in balancing fine-grained and contextual information in EO-based causal inference.
method Multi-Scale Representation Concatenation, combining Vision Transformer and Causal Forests.
result Multi-scale approach captures effect heterogeneity better than single-scale models.
EcoCast predicts biodiversity risks using satellite data and citizen science records.
problem Unprecedented shifts in species distributions due to climate change and habitat loss.
method Spatio-temporal model using sequence-based transformers and continual learning.
result Promising improvements in forecasting bird species distributions compared to Random Forest.
A new data set helps estimate continental-scale population distributions.
problem Lack of comprehensive, publicly available data for population estimation.
method Comprehensive data set combining satellite imagery and open-source data.
result Provides a valuable resource for developing population estimation methods.
Informal settlements are home to the most socially and economically vulnerable people on the planet. In order to deliver effective economic and social aid, non-government organizations (NGOs), such as the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), require detailed maps of the locations of informal settlements. However, d…
AI helps forecasters understand TC convective evolution before intensification.
problem Challenges in extracting scientific insights from complex TC data.
method Combining AI prediction algorithms and classical statistical inference.
result Identifies patterns in TC convective structure leading to intensification.
Dimensionality reduction is a topic of recent interest. In this paper, we present the classification constrained dimensionality reduction (CCDR) algorithm to account for label information. The algorithm can account for multiple classes as well as the semi-supervised setting. We present an out-of-sample expressions for …
Provides a compendium of data sources for various applications.
problem Lack of comprehensive data sources for data science, machine learning, and AI.
method Compilation of diverse data sources across multiple application areas.
result A comprehensive list of data sources for data scientists and machine learning experts.
New methods reduce bias in machine learning predictions for causal inference without extra data.
problem Machine learning predictions from satellite data shrink toward the mean, leading to biased causal estimates.
method Two post-hoc correction methods: Linear Calibration Correction (LCC) and Tweedie's approach, reduce shrinkage-induced bias.
result Tweedie's method yields nearly unbiased treatment-effect estimates, enabling multiple trials with a single map.
More than one billion people live in slums around the world. In some developing countries, slum residents make up for more than half of the population and lack reliable sanitation services, clean water, electricity, other basic services. Thus, slum rehabilitation and improvement is an important global challenge, and a …