Abstract
Spatially accurate, contemporary data on human population distributions are vitally important to many applied and theoretical researchers. The Southeast Asia region has undergone rapid urbanization and population growth over the past decade, yet existing spatial population distribution datasets covering the region are based principally on population count data from censuses circa 2000, with often insufficient spatial resolution or input data to map settlements precisely. Here we outline approaches to construct a database of GIS-linked circa 2010 census data and methods used to construct fine-scale (∼100 meters spatial resolution) population distribution datasets for each country in the Southeast Asia region. Landsat-derived settlement maps and land cover information were combined with ancillary datasets on infrastructure to model population distributions for 2010 and 2015. These products were compared with those from two other methods used to construct commonly used global population datasets. Results indicate mapping accuracies are consistently higher when incorporating land cover and settlement information into the AsiaPop modelling process. Using existing data, it is possible to produce detailed, contemporary and easily updatable population distribution datasets for Southeast Asia. The 2010 and 2015 datasets produced are freely available as a product of the AsiaPop Project and can be downloaded from: www.asiapop.org.
Highlights
The global human population is projected to increase from 7 billion to over 9 billion between 2011 and 2050, with much of this growth concentrated in low income countries [1]
Land cover classes were based principally on the MDA GeoCover Land Cover Thematic Mapper (TM) database, a product that provides a consistent global mapping of 13 land cover classes derived from circa 2005, 30 meter spatial resolution Landsat TM spectral reflectance data [28]
Gridded Population of the World (GPW) v3 evenly distributes the population across each individual administrative unit while Global Rural Urban Mapping Project (GRUMP) concentrates the population into a few major urban areas and uses areal weighting to redistribute the remainder of the population [13]
Summary
The global human population is projected to increase from 7 billion to over 9 billion between 2011 and 2050, with much of this growth concentrated in low income countries [1]. The greatest concentration in growth is set to occur in urban areas, disproportionately impacting Asia where half of the population is expected to be living in urban areas by 2020 [1]. The effects of such rapid demographic growth are well documented, influencing the economies, environment and health of nations [2]. The LandScan Global Population database is updated annually, but has some access restrictions [14,15], and the United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP) has compiled gridded datasets for Latin America, Africa, and Asia [16,17,18], while the AfriPop project provides freely-available gridded population data for Africa [6,10,19]
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