To support the ongoing work of researchers, governments, nonprofits, and humanitarians around the world, the Data for Good at Meta program is open-sourcing the first set of training data and sample code used to construct Meta’s AI-powered population maps that CIESIN helped develop.
As the world looks towards the increasing threat of climate change, Meta’s AI-powered population maps, and the data behind them, offer significant opportunities to direct investments in disaster preparedness through improved estimation of global flood exposure and in climate adaptation planning.
To combat this challenge, Meta began the process of mapping the world’s population using artificial intelligence and satellite imagery in 2017. Together with leaders in gridded population at CIESIN and WorldPop (University of Southampton), Meta has openly published hundreds of high resolution population maps and datasets. These have been used around the world by governments and nonprofits for social programs ranging from the targeting of COVID-19 interventions to the delivery of clean water. As the world’s natural resource and energy demands scale, accurate population estimates also offer significant opportunities to improve sustainability efforts.
AI-powered population estimates have been scientifically evaluated to be among the most accurate in the world for mapping population distribution for a variety of geographies and use-cases. For example, this 2022 paper by researchers at the University of Southampton and University of Ghana in Nature – Scientific Reports compares various population density estimates for use in mapping flooding risk in west Africa. Other studies have investigated a variety of use-cases such as mapping landslide risk and malaria eradication; and a range of countries including Haiti, Malawi, Madagascar, Nepal, Rwanda, and Thailand.
Innovation in global population mapping is only possible through the type of collaboration Meta continues to have with Columbia University and WorldPop and a shared commitment to open source enables researchers and governments around the world to participate in this process.
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Adapted from the Blog article from the Engineering at Meta
