Regional development gap assessment method based on remote sensing images and weighted Theil index

Abstract

Quickly and accurately identifying development gaps between regions is critical to maintaining sustainable development in each region. The efficiency of the regional development gap assessment method based on traditional statistics is insufficient to meet the needs of rapid global economic development. This paper uses the nighttime light remote sensing data provided by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (SNPP) satellite as an economic parameter to measure the development gap. The noise in the nighttime light images was filtered by the mask method, and the development gap of Jiangxi Province from 2013 to 2018 was analyzed in combination with the weighted Theil index. The results indicate that: (1) the mask method used in this paper can significantly remove the background noise in the images, and the nighttime light after denoising shows a higher correlation with GDP. (2) From 2013 to 2018, the overall development gap in Jiangxi Province increased first and then decreased, reaching a peak in 2014, and the within-city gap was the main factor affecting the overall gap. (3) The overall accuracy of the regional development gap evaluation using weighted nighttime light data is 89.23%, and it has higher accuracy and robustness than the unweighted calculation results. The results of this study can provide a multi-scale reference for the investigation of the regional development gap.