Detecting Urban Markets with Satellite Imagery: An Application to India
We propose a methodology for defining urban markets based on built-up land-cover classified from daytime satellite imagery. Compared to markets defined using minimum thresholds for nighttime light intensity, daytime imagery identify an order of magnitude more markets, capture more of India's urban population, are more realistically jagged in shape, and reveal more variation in the spatial distribution of economic activity. We conclude that daytime satellite data are a promising source for the study of urban forms.
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Copy CitationKathryn Baragwanath Vogel, Ran Goldblatt, Gordon H. Hanson, and Amit K. Khandelwal, "Detecting Urban Markets with Satellite Imagery: An Application to India," NBER Working Paper 24796 (2018), https://doi.org/10.3386/w24796.Download Citation
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Published Versions
Baragwanath, Kathryn & Goldblatt, Ran & Hanson, Gordon & Khandelwal, Amit K., 2021. "Detecting urban markets with satellite imagery: An application to India," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C). citation courtesy of 
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