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Facebook is Using AI To Map Population Density Around the World (theverge.com)

Posted by msmash on from the how-about-that dept.

Facebook has always been a company with global ambition, but few projects illustrate this better than its ongoing attempt to map the world's population density using AI. From a report: The company first unveiled this work back in 2016 when it created maps for 22 nations. Today, it expanded that with new maps that cover the "majority" of Africa. "The project will eventually map nearly the whole world's population," Facebook said in a blog post. As Facebook explains, creating maps like this is a challenging job for humans. Although we have high-resolution satellite imagery that covers pretty much every corner of the globe, turning this into useful information is a time-consuming process. To create population density maps, for example, humans have to label each building in the images, then cross-reference this with census data.

This is particularly tricky in the African continent where census tracts can cover regions as large as 150,000 square miles but contain just 55,000 people. Luckily, this sort of task -- tedious but simple -- is perfect for AI. To automate this process, Facebook's engineers used data from open-source mapping project Open Street Map to train a computer vision system that can recognize buildings in satellite imagery. They then used this to remove the vast majority of the satellite data that showed unoccupied land.

31 comments

  1. Facebook? by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 1

    Interesting, and it will be quite valuable to actually have this map-- we all pretty much can guess where the population lives, but guessing isn't the same as data.

    But... Facebook? Why facebook?

    I'm guessing that this is part of their initiative to take over the world by making Facebook the default internet connection for people who aren't currently internet connected.

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
    1. Re:Facebook? by Lennie · · Score: 1

      Of course they want to know where more people are that don't have Facebook yet.

      --
      New things are always on the horizon
    2. Re:Facebook? by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 2

      Why facebook?

      Data is their business. Presumably they have the raw data necessary to come up with this map, maybe they will even publish it as a freebie, but for them it'll probably just be a little exercise in machine learning, to see what else they can glean from the piles of other data they have. Maybe map this population data to affluence, sexual preference, age, political leaning, spending patterns... and that good stuff they can sell.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    3. Re:Facebook? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      but guessing isn't the same as data.

      So then what's with the AI? AI isn't needed for data, it's needed for guessing.

    4. Re:Facebook? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nah,
      They just want to know precisely how many facebook like thumbs up cards to drop in the next natural disaster area.

    5. Re:Facebook? by Big+Bipper · · Score: 2

      Whatever they are going to use the information for, it certainly won't be to benefit you, or me, or anybody but Facebook.

      --
      You live and learn, or you don't learn much.
    6. Re: Facebook? by boskone · · Score: 1

      You could use the fb map vs actual census numbers and find where the percentage of people on Facebook is lowest and move there

    7. Re:Facebook? by Livius · · Score: 1

      Why facebook?

      Remember who Facebook works for. (Advertisers if you forgot.)

    8. Re:Facebook? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      but guessing isn't the same as data.

      So then what's with the AI? AI isn't needed for data, it's needed for guessing.

      Sure gets more news coverage over writing a bunch of SELECT statements.

  2. FB users actual population by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No matter what FB's findings actually turn out to be, you can be sure that they claim more people in that area use Facebook than actually exist.

  3. density by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who cares. I can tell you the answer right now, and I'll do it for free, unlike Facebook.

    THERE'S TOO DAMN MANY OF YOU DISEASED FREAKS.

  4. AI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    AI everywhere. ZOMG the AIs!!!!!

  5. OpenStreetmap data license by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So, basically anything you create from OSM derived data is free - they used photos to train an AI network, which then used that data in *every* subsequent building recognition

    I look forward to Facebook licensing this data under the same free terms as the OSM license, for others to make use of.

  6. ignorant idot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Data is their business.

    controlling the world's population is their business and they've recruited you as a tool

  7. Population density or building density? by Comboman · · Score: 2

    From the description, it seems like it's counting buildings rather than people. While buildings certainly imply human habitation, there are so many exceptions (farming/retail/industrial/utility buildings, abandoned homes, seasonal homes, homeless people, nomads, migrants, refuges, homes with more or less occupants than average [and how do you determine average]) that the results would be next to useless.

    --
    Support Right To Repair Legislation.
    1. Re:Population density or building density? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      From the description, it seems like it's counting buildings rather than people. While buildings certainly imply human habitation, there are so many exceptions (farming/retail/industrial/utility buildings, abandoned homes, seasonal homes, homeless people, nomads, migrants, refuges, homes with more or less occupants than average [and how do you determine average]) that the results would be next to useless.

      hey idiot, the presence of built structures strongly indicates the presence of humans

      are you atgiung that the presence of built structures is not an indication of human presence? what do you use to determine human presence? concentrations of fecal waste?

    2. Re:Population density or building density? by tomhath · · Score: 1

      there are so many exceptions...that the results would be next to useless.

      Not at all; they can compare areas with known populations to areas with unknown. The estimate won't be exact, but it will be close enough to make informed decisions such as whether there are enough people to invest in some infrastructure.

    3. Re:Population density or building density? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, that does seem like a problem...hey I wonder if machine learning could be applied to solving that problem. Maybe someone at FB can look into that and then maybe someone can post it to slashdot....

    4. Re:Population density or building density? by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 1

      While buildings certainly imply human habitation, there are so many exceptions (farming/retail/industrial/utility buildings, abandoned homes, seasonal homes, homeless people, nomads, migrants, refuges, homes with more or less occupants than average [and how do you determine average])

      And that's why they use AI, of course. You don't just count buildings, you count and classify types of building, and then use the results of the type of building to estimate the number of people, based on the knowledge gained from other areas where you can correlate the type of building with the number of people.

      Your AI is going to have to know ok, this building is for farming, here are the homes for the farmers, that one over there is a utility building, that other one a barn; we see five tractors and three harvesters parked next to a Jeep and two trucks. These other twenty-two objects look like buildings in the orbital images but are actually bales of hay. A hectares are being cultivated. Together on the average this would mean X people associated with these buildings; over here are five houses, which probably house Y people, so given the data, we estimate Z people in this area.

      that the results would be next to useless.

      The results will be as good as the training of the AI.

      --
      http://www.geoffreylandis.com
  8. AI is a solution looking for a problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    And secondly it isn't even real "AI."

    They changed the definition of AI to be the same as "Machine Learning" and "AI" as most people knew it is now known as "AGI"

    It's a marketing ploy.

    1. Re:AI is a solution looking for a problem by Livius · · Score: 1

      I know the notion of "artificial intelligence" can really get stretched but this seems like they're conflating AI with "anyting on a computer". Definitely you want computers doing this (because of the volume of data), but aside from a little bit of classifying building types or land use there isn't much more than simple counting involved.

  9. Now need a corresponding map for wildlife by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or maybe you donâ(TM)t. if human population goes up in an area, wildlife population goes down two fold

  10. But can Facebook.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But can Facebook predict the next dance craze? Now THAT would make Artificial Intelligence worthwhile!

    CAPTCHA: Step up!

  11. Population density or light density? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Presence of lights would be a good indication.

  12. Sounds great for the Jews huh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-google-is-more-jewish_b_1272245

    All that data that has been aggregated over decades now is being used against you.

    How can we distract? Well they respond to __this__ and __this__ and it goes like wildfire. OK DO IT. Rinse lather repeat.

    Everything Trump says is now a distraction from Israel and the Jews even as Israel and the Jews rip off America using POTUS' as puppets because Jews took control of the USD/FRN. Money.

    usdebtclock.org

  13. USA is full, sez fool... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Perhaps AI can explain how USA suddenly became "full". Or is it just the density of some people?

  14. Ob by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington DC.

    Very dense. The best density.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    1. Re: Ob by koki22 · · Score: 1

      piles of other data they have. Maybe map this population data to affluence, sexual preference, age, political leaning, spending patterns... and that good stuff they can sell. https://xender.pro/ https://discord.software/ https://omegle.onl/

  15. In other news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    AI using facebook to find out who the idiots are.

  16. Just use Facebook app user's location by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    with 1-2 billion users that's all you need ...