Population Disaggregation on the Building Level Based on Outdated Census Data

A wide range of disciplines require population data with high spatial resolution. In particular, accessibility instruments for active mobility need data on the building access level. Data availability varies by context. Spatially detailed national census counts often present the challenge that they are outdated. Therefore, this study proposes a novel approach to hybrid population disaggregation. It updates outdated census tracts and disaggregates population on the building access level. Open and widely available data sets are used. A bottom-up population estimation for new development areas is combined with a top-down dasymetric mapping process to update outdated census tracts. A particular focus lies on the high flexibility of the developed procedure. Accordingly, users can utilize diverse data and adapt settings to a specific study context. Instead of requiring ubiquitous 3D building data, often unavailable free of charge, the approach suggests collecting building levels only in new development areas. The open-source software development was done using PostgreSQL/PostGIS as part of the co-creative development of the accessibility instrument GOAT in three German municipalities. A comparison with reference data from the population registry of one district was realized. On the building level, an R2 of 0.82, and on the grid level (100 m × 100 m), an R2 of 0.89 is reached. The approach stands out when land-use information is outdated; however, a spatially detailed census grid exists, but no ubiquitous 3D building information is available. Enhancements are proposed, such as improving the dasymetric mapping with machine learning and remote sensing techniques. Moreover, more reliable detection of new building development in already built-up areas is suggested to account better for urban densification.

A TOOL FOR MACHINE LEARNING BASED DASYMETRIC MAPPING APPROACHES IN GRASS GIS

Socio-economic and demographic data is often released at the level of census administrative units. However, there is often a need for data available at a higher spatial resolution. Dasymetric mapping is an approach that can be used to disaggregate such data into finer levels of detail. It relies on the assumption that proxies available at a higher spatial resolution, along with knowledge of an area, can be used to produce weights in order to spatially reallocate the data to a finer scale layer. The power and efficiency of machine learning (ML) approaches can be taken advantage of when producing weighted layers for dasymetric mapping. Less advanced users, however, may find these approaches too complex. To encourage a wider uptake of such approaches, easy-to-use tools are necessary. GRASS GIS is a free and open-source GIS software that contains many modules for processing geographic data. The existing GRASS GIS add-on “v.area.weigh” already makes the dasymetric mapping approach more accessible, however users must provide their own weighted layer. This paper presents the development of a GRASS GIS add-on, “r.area.createweight”, which provides a simple and convenient tool to facilitate the implementation of a ML-based approach to produce weighted layers for dasymetric mapping. The tool will be available on the official GRASS GIS add-on repository to encourage a more widespread uptake of these approaches.

A multi-dasymetric mapping approach for tourism

A multi-dasymetric mapping approach for tourism

A multi-dasymetric mapping approach for tourism

A multi-dasymetric mapping approach for tourism

Gridded population mapping for Germany based on building density, height and type from Earth Observation data using census disaggregation and bottom-up estimates

Gridded population data is widely used to map fine scale population patterns and dynamics to understand associated human-environmental processes for global change research, disaster risk assessment and other domains. This study mapped gridded population across Germany using weighting layers from building density, building height (both from previous studies) and building type datasets, all created from freely available, temporally and globally consistent Copernicus Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 data. We first produced and validated a nation-wide dataset of predominant residential and non-residential building types. We then examined the impact of different weighting layers from density, type and height on top-down dasymetric mapping quality across scales. We finally performed a nation-wide bottom-up population estimate based on the three datasets. We found that integrating building types into dasymetric mapping is helpful at fine scale, as population is not redistributed to non-residential areas. Building density improved the overall quality of population estimates at all scales compared to using a binary building layer. Most importantly, we found that the combined use of density and height, i.e. volume, considerably increased mapping quality in general and with regard to regional discrepancy by largely eliminating systematic underestimation in dense agglomerations and overestimation in rural areas. We also found that building density, type and volume, together with living floor area per capita, are suitable to produce accurate large-area bottom-up population estimates.

Dasymetric Mapping Using UAV High Resolution 3D Data Within Urban Areas

Multi-temporal analysis of census small-area microdata is hampered by the fact that census tract shapes do not often coincide between census exercises. Dasymetric mapping techniques provide a workaround that is nonetheless highly dependent on the quality of ancillary data. The objectives of this work are to: (1) Compare the use of three spatial techniques for the estimation of population according to census tracts: Areal interpolation and dasymetric mapping using control data—building block area (2D) and volume (3D); (2) demonstrate the potential of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology for the acquisition of control data; (3) perform a sensitivity analysis using Monte Carlo simulations showing the effect of changes in building block volume (3D information) in population estimates. The control data were extracted by a (semi)-automatic solution—3DEBP (3D extraction building parameters) developed using free open source software (FOSS) tools. The results highlight the relevance of 3D for the dasymetric mapping exercise, especially if the variations in height between building blocks are significant. Using low-cost UAV backed systems with a FOSS-only computing framework also proved to be a competent solution with a large scope of potential applications.

Estimating Hilly Areas Population Using a Dasymetric Mapping Approach: A Case of Sri Lanka’s Highest Mountain Range

Since populations in the developing world have been rapidly increasing, accurately determining the population distribution is becoming more critical for many countries. One of the most widely used population density estimation methods is dasymetric mapping. This can be defined as a precise method for areal interpolation between different spatial units. In most applications of dasymetric mapping, land use and land cover data have been considered as ancillary data for the areal disaggregation process. This research presents an alternative dasymetric approach using area specific ancillary data for hilly area population mapping in a GIS environment. Specifically, we propose a Hilly Area Dasymetric Mapping (HDM) technique by combining topographic variables and land use to better disaggregate hilly area population distribution at fine-grain division of ancillary units. Empirical results for Sri Lanka’s highest mountain range show that the combined dasymetric approach estimates hilly area population most accurately and because of the significant association that is found to exist between topographic variables and population distribution within this setting. This research is expected to have significant implications for national and regional planning by providing useful information about actual population distributions in environmentally hazardous and sparsely populated areas.

Improving Urban Population Distribution Models with Very-High Resolution Satellite Information

Built-up layers derived from medium resolution (MR) satellite information have proven their contribution to dasymetric mapping, but suffer from important limitations when working at the intra-urban level, mainly due to their difficulty in capturing the whole range of variation in terms of built-up densities. In this regard, very-high resolution (VHR) remote sensing is known for its ability to better capture small variations in built-up densities and to derive detailed urban land use, which plead in favor of its use when mapping urban populations. In this paper, we compare the added value of various combinations of VHR data sets, compared to a MR one. A top-down dasymetric mapping strategy is applied to reallocate population counts from administrative units into a regular 100 × 100 m grid, according to different weighting layers. These weighting layers are created from MR and/or VHR input data, using simple built-up proportion or reallocation “weights”, obtained from a set of multiple ancillary data used to train a Random Forest regression model. The results reveal that (1) a built-up mask derived from VHR can improve the accuracy of the reallocation by roughly 13%, compared to MR; (2) using VHR land-use information alone results in lower accuracy than using a MR built-up mask; and (3) there is a clear complementarity between VHR land cover and land use.