NASA Satellites Watch World's Cities Grow

Researchers used NASA's Landsat satellite to measure and analyze urban growth among a global cross-section of 30 mid-sized cities during the 1990s. [Includes photos.]

December 16, 2003, 1pm PST | Chris Steins | @urbaninsight

"Preliminary results from Boston University research assistant and lead author of the NASA-funded study, Annemarie Schneider, show that some cities in the sample, including Atlanta, Georgia, Calgary, Canada, and Curitiba, Brazil, grew in area by as much as 25 percent from 1990 to 2000. More importantly, this kind of global satellite-derived analysis allows researchers to compare areas and determine spatial trends in how cities have developed... Schneider's study provides a current global record of urbanization, including growth in places like Africa that haven't been mapped for many years."

Thanks to Chris Steins

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NASA Satellites Watch World's Cities Grow

Published on Monday, December 15, 2003 in Goddard Space Flight Center