East View Geospatial is teaming with Planet and the World Bank to identify unplanned urbanization in specific developing areas using satellite imagery. Starting in mid-2017, East View Geospatial will begin calculating and detecting change to the Floor Space Index (FSI) for Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, with data provided by partner organization Planet. Dar es Salaam is the largest city in Tanzania, and is one of the fastest growing cities in the world, with a roughly 4.5 percent average annual population increase from 2002 to 2015.
The program continues East View Geospatial’s technical innovation in change detection from satellite information. Analysts will enter the Planet imagery and the World Bank data into a proprietary automation system. The system will analyze multiple indicators, including infrastructure investments and residence characteristics, to determine if urbanization is planned or unplanned. Unplanned urbanization is, by definition, sudden and unexpected, leading to massive population surges that without proper infrastructure can cause adverse health effects, massive inconvenience, and potentially, social disorder.
East View has a long and successful work history with satellite constellation operators, including Planet; a company which will soon be able to provide daily imaging of the entire Earth. The two companies are collaborating to assist the World Bank in this pilot program that if successful, could expand to include 100s of locations around the world.
“We are excited to team with Planet and the World Bank on this important humanitarian project,” said Mark Knapp, East View Geospatial Product Development Manager. “Planet imagery coupled with our change detection algorithms and big data analytics promise to revolutionize how the World Bank addresses development issues across the globe.”
Once completed, the process will be replicable for additional locations and organizations upon request. The model will also be able to work in conjunction with other image analysis services currently available from East View Geospatial.