Sensing household income differences in Nairobi, Kenya (2016)

This 2016 image depicts a border between a wealthy neighborhood and a poor one in Nairobi, Kenya. Because it can be challenging to gather regular census data about household income in some areas of developing countries, a group of social scientists, economists, and computer scientists at Stanford University is analyzing daytime images like the one above to collect spatio-temporal data about poverty conditions. Using indicators such house size, road conditions, distance to water sources, markets, or agricultural fields, analyzing such images could support decisions about where and how to provide aide opportunities.