Advance and Case Analysis in Population SpatialDistribution Based on Remote Sensing and GIS

Abstract

It is widely recognized that population data are very important to integrate research among the human beings and environmental factors in global, continental and regional scales. But the population census data collected based on the administrative units do not match the environmental data collected based on the natural units. So studies on the population spatial distribution are necessary by modeling and estimating the population data. The basic method of the population estimation is linking population data with geographical variables. Remote Sensing and Geographic System Information (GIS) are the most effective research tools. The advance in population spatial distribution during the last two decades based on the Remote Sensing and GIS was introduced by presenting international and internal population spatial distribution projects and methods. Then the typical population estimation results of GPW, UNEP/GRID, LandScan and Chinese 1 kilometer population data were compared and analyzed in a case of Heihe River Basin with the registration statistics data provided by the government. The results show there are a lot of study works developed by the international and internal organizations and researchers. International researches mainly include population estimation from the land cover data, DMSP-OLS night light data or spectrum information directly afforded by the Remote Sensing images. Chinese researchers also make many distinguished works in despite of the later starting. Construction the regression correlation among the population data with land use data and other geographical factors (e.g. elevation, road, and residential area) is the most used method for these works. The comparing results show Chinese 1 kilometer population data has the best estimation accuracy for the Heihe River Basin population spatial distribution.