Assessment of Socioeconomic Dynamics and Electrification Progress in Tanzania Using VIIRS Nighttime Light Images
Tanzania is one of the fastest-growing countries in the world, but it still faces many challenges of unbalanced development. However, Tanzania’s economic assessment studies based on traditional statistics are mostly conducted at the national level, which leaves the details of regional economic dispa...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-08-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/17/4240 |
| _version_ | 1797493383745241088 |
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| author | Changjun Zhu Xi Li Yuanxi Ru |
| author_facet | Changjun Zhu Xi Li Yuanxi Ru |
| author_sort | Changjun Zhu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Tanzania is one of the fastest-growing countries in the world, but it still faces many challenges of unbalanced development. However, Tanzania’s economic assessment studies based on traditional statistics are mostly conducted at the national level, which leaves the details of regional economic disparity and electrification unknown. Despite experiencing one of the fastest urbanizations in the world, there is a lack of research on the match between urbanization and electrification in Tanzania. This study accesses the socioeconomic dynamics in Tanzania using nighttime light images from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), providing spatiotemporal details for Tanzania’s development. We examined the ability of nighttime light data to evaluate the socioeconomic dynamics in Tanzania and studied regional economic disparity based on the total nighttime light (TNL). Furthermore, the land electrification rate (LER) was defined to study the relationship between urbanization and electrification in Tanzania’s major cities. We found that the LER was less than 0.9 in 2019 and had decreased from 2015 to 2019 in most cities, indicating that the power infrastructure gaps were widespread and growing in major cities. Additionally, we found a negative correlation between the change rate of land electrification and the urban expansion rate, indicating that the construction of power infrastructure has lagged behind the urbanization. We concluded that nighttime light data can effectively provide spatiotemporal details for socioeconomic dynamics in Tanzania. Additionally, our data mining method may be applied to other data-poor countries. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T01:19:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b14e72f77d664d8382ad5084f6472e63 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T01:19:16Z |
| publishDate | 2022-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-b14e72f77d664d8382ad5084f6472e632023-11-23T14:03:18ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922022-08-011417424010.3390/rs14174240Assessment of Socioeconomic Dynamics and Electrification Progress in Tanzania Using VIIRS Nighttime Light ImagesChangjun Zhu0Xi Li1Yuanxi Ru2School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, ChinaSchool of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, ChinaTanzania is one of the fastest-growing countries in the world, but it still faces many challenges of unbalanced development. However, Tanzania’s economic assessment studies based on traditional statistics are mostly conducted at the national level, which leaves the details of regional economic disparity and electrification unknown. Despite experiencing one of the fastest urbanizations in the world, there is a lack of research on the match between urbanization and electrification in Tanzania. This study accesses the socioeconomic dynamics in Tanzania using nighttime light images from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), providing spatiotemporal details for Tanzania’s development. We examined the ability of nighttime light data to evaluate the socioeconomic dynamics in Tanzania and studied regional economic disparity based on the total nighttime light (TNL). Furthermore, the land electrification rate (LER) was defined to study the relationship between urbanization and electrification in Tanzania’s major cities. We found that the LER was less than 0.9 in 2019 and had decreased from 2015 to 2019 in most cities, indicating that the power infrastructure gaps were widespread and growing in major cities. Additionally, we found a negative correlation between the change rate of land electrification and the urban expansion rate, indicating that the construction of power infrastructure has lagged behind the urbanization. We concluded that nighttime light data can effectively provide spatiotemporal details for socioeconomic dynamics in Tanzania. Additionally, our data mining method may be applied to other data-poor countries.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/17/4240VIIRSnighttime lightTanzaniablack marble |
| spellingShingle | Changjun Zhu Xi Li Yuanxi Ru Assessment of Socioeconomic Dynamics and Electrification Progress in Tanzania Using VIIRS Nighttime Light Images Remote Sensing VIIRS nighttime light Tanzania black marble |
| title | Assessment of Socioeconomic Dynamics and Electrification Progress in Tanzania Using VIIRS Nighttime Light Images |
| title_full | Assessment of Socioeconomic Dynamics and Electrification Progress in Tanzania Using VIIRS Nighttime Light Images |
| title_fullStr | Assessment of Socioeconomic Dynamics and Electrification Progress in Tanzania Using VIIRS Nighttime Light Images |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessment of Socioeconomic Dynamics and Electrification Progress in Tanzania Using VIIRS Nighttime Light Images |
| title_short | Assessment of Socioeconomic Dynamics and Electrification Progress in Tanzania Using VIIRS Nighttime Light Images |
| title_sort | assessment of socioeconomic dynamics and electrification progress in tanzania using viirs nighttime light images |
| topic | VIIRS nighttime light Tanzania black marble |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/17/4240 |
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