How Satellite Images Could Improve Lives

A new way of using machine learning to examine satellite images could help people around the world. More than 700 imaging satellites orbit the earth, but only governments and companies with wealth and expertise can access the data they produce. Now, researchers said in a recent paper that they have invented a machine learning system using low-cost, easy-to-use technology that could bring satellite analytical power to researchers and governments worldwide. "To plan infrastructure like roads and bridges or to target food aid, we need to know where people live and what their needs are," Jonathan Proctor, a co-author of the paper, told Lifewire in an email interview. "Satellite imagery and machine learning can help measure socio-economic conditions in places where other measurements are insufficient."