Measuring Economic Activity From Space: A Case Study Using Flying Airplanes and COVID-19

Author(s)

Segundo, Mauricio Pamplona ^[1] ; Pinto, Allan ^[2] ; Minetto, Rodrigo ^[3] ; Torres, Ricardo da Silva ^[4] ; Sarkar, Sudeep ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ S Florida, Dept Comp Sci & Engn, Tampa, FL 33647 - USA

^[2] Univ Estadual Campinas, BR-13083970 Campinas - Brazil

^[3] Univ Tecnol Fed Parana, BR-80230901 Curitiba, Parana - Brazil

^[4] Norwegian Univ Sci & Technol, Dept ICT & Nat Sci, N-6009 Alesund - Norway

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: IEEE JOURNAL OF SELECTED TOPICS IN APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATIONS AND REMOTE SENSING; v. 14, p. 7213-7224, 2021.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

This work introduces a novel solution to measure economic activity through remote sensing for a wide range of spatial areas. We hypothesize that disturbances in human behavior caused by major life-changing events leave signatures in satellite imagery that allows devising relevant image-based indicators to estimate their impact and support decision-makers. We present a case study for the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, which imposed severe mobility restrictions and caused worldwide disruptions, using flying airplane detection around the 30 busiest airports in Europe to quantify and analyze the lockdown's effects and postlockdown recovery. Our solution won the rapid action coronavirus earth observation (RACE) upscaling challenge, sponsored by the European Space Agency and the European Commission, and now is integrated into the RACE dashboard. This platform combines satellite data and artificial intelligence to promote a progressive and safe reopening of essential activities. Code, trained model, and data are available at https://github.com/maups/covid19-custom-script-contest. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 19/22262-3 - Large volume reconstruction: high precision system for position detection in sports
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• FAPESP's process: 19/16253-1 - Unraveling the secret of Brazilian and Dutch soccer by capturing successful elements of playing style and playing strategies
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