2.7. Use of Nighttime Satellite Imagery for Estimating the Information and Technology Development
Index (IDI)
The development of societies as information societies is another measure of the progress and
well-being of societies. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations Agency,
has developed a tool known as the Information and Communication Technology Development Index
(IDI) to measure the development of countries as information societies. The IDI is a composite index
made up of 11 indicators covering Information and Communication Technology (ICT) use, access, and
skills. Most of the indicators included in the IDI were found to have a close relationship with GDP per
capita [55]. This encouraged the possible investigation of using nighttime lights as a proxy measure of
IDI through its utilization in creating the GDP grid [8].
The use of the nighttime lights imagery in creating the GDP grid has already been discussed in the
previous section. The disaggregated map of total economic activity was aggregated to the country level
for all countries of the world. The aggregated GDP values were then divided by the population of the
countries to get GDP per capita values. A second-degree polynomial regression relationship was
established between the estimated GDP per capita and the official IDI values. This regression
relationship gave an R2 of 0.89 and provided estimated IDI values for all countries of the world
(Figure 19). Plotting the official versus estimated IDI for all countries of the world with a 1:1 line
showed that the estimated IDI has a strong association with the official IDI with a Pearson’s
correlation coefficient (R) of 0.97 (Figure 20).
On the basis of the regression relationship between official IDI and estimated GDP per capita
an attempt was made to create a global grid of IDI at 30 arc-second resolution. However, at the
30 arc-second resolution, city centers were seen to have lower GDP per capita in comparison to areas
surrounding the city centers, and thus the regression relation between official IDI and estimated GDP
per capita could not be employed at that spatial resolution to create the IDI grid.
Since it was not possible to create the IDI grid at the 30 arc-second resolution, the estimated IDI
map was created at the sub-national level (Figure 21) and at the national level for the South-East Asian
countries (South- East Asian countries was the focus because the 30th APAN meeting for which this
paper was written was held in Hanoi, Vietnam in South-east Asia).
ICT promotes tremendous socio-economic development of societies, including productivity gains,
development of new technologies, facilitating trade in service sectors, providing more employment in
ICT-related sectors, providing enhanced flexibility for firms and workers, improving education
performance, and enabling more women to participate in the employment workforce. The production
of ICT maps at finer spatial resolutions from nighttime satellite images (which can be updated
frequently) would facilitate government and policy makers to concentrate their resources in promoting
ICT development in areas where they are lagging behind [27].
Figure 21. Estimated IDI map at the state level for the South-east Asian countries. (Source:
adapted from [27]).
ค่า IDI ในเอเชียตะวันออกเฉียงใต้
ประเทศไทยมี 3 จังหวัด ที่ได้ค่า IDI สูงสุด คือ ชลบุรี ระยอง ปทุมธานี เช่นเดียวกับ ประเทศบรูไน
ไปเจอข้อมูลมาในเว็บนี้
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274427735_Using_Nighttime_Satellite_Imagery_as_a_Proxy_Measure_of_Human_Well-Being
อยากรู้ว่าจริงๆแล้ว ค่า IDI มันหมายถึงอะไร
Information and Communication Technology Development Index ในเอเชียตะวันออกเฉียงใต้
Index (IDI)
The development of societies as information societies is another measure of the progress and
well-being of societies. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations Agency,
has developed a tool known as the Information and Communication Technology Development Index
(IDI) to measure the development of countries as information societies. The IDI is a composite index
made up of 11 indicators covering Information and Communication Technology (ICT) use, access, and
skills. Most of the indicators included in the IDI were found to have a close relationship with GDP per
capita [55]. This encouraged the possible investigation of using nighttime lights as a proxy measure of
IDI through its utilization in creating the GDP grid [8].
The use of the nighttime lights imagery in creating the GDP grid has already been discussed in the
previous section. The disaggregated map of total economic activity was aggregated to the country level
for all countries of the world. The aggregated GDP values were then divided by the population of the
countries to get GDP per capita values. A second-degree polynomial regression relationship was
established between the estimated GDP per capita and the official IDI values. This regression
relationship gave an R2 of 0.89 and provided estimated IDI values for all countries of the world
(Figure 19). Plotting the official versus estimated IDI for all countries of the world with a 1:1 line
showed that the estimated IDI has a strong association with the official IDI with a Pearson’s
correlation coefficient (R) of 0.97 (Figure 20).
On the basis of the regression relationship between official IDI and estimated GDP per capita
an attempt was made to create a global grid of IDI at 30 arc-second resolution. However, at the
30 arc-second resolution, city centers were seen to have lower GDP per capita in comparison to areas
surrounding the city centers, and thus the regression relation between official IDI and estimated GDP
per capita could not be employed at that spatial resolution to create the IDI grid.
Since it was not possible to create the IDI grid at the 30 arc-second resolution, the estimated IDI
map was created at the sub-national level (Figure 21) and at the national level for the South-East Asian
countries (South- East Asian countries was the focus because the 30th APAN meeting for which this
paper was written was held in Hanoi, Vietnam in South-east Asia).
ICT promotes tremendous socio-economic development of societies, including productivity gains,
development of new technologies, facilitating trade in service sectors, providing more employment in
ICT-related sectors, providing enhanced flexibility for firms and workers, improving education
performance, and enabling more women to participate in the employment workforce. The production
of ICT maps at finer spatial resolutions from nighttime satellite images (which can be updated
frequently) would facilitate government and policy makers to concentrate their resources in promoting
ICT development in areas where they are lagging behind [27].
Figure 21. Estimated IDI map at the state level for the South-east Asian countries. (Source:
adapted from [27]).
ค่า IDI ในเอเชียตะวันออกเฉียงใต้
ประเทศไทยมี 3 จังหวัด ที่ได้ค่า IDI สูงสุด คือ ชลบุรี ระยอง ปทุมธานี เช่นเดียวกับ ประเทศบรูไน
ไปเจอข้อมูลมาในเว็บนี้
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274427735_Using_Nighttime_Satellite_Imagery_as_a_Proxy_Measure_of_Human_Well-Being
อยากรู้ว่าจริงๆแล้ว ค่า IDI มันหมายถึงอะไร