Communications of the ACM
Pinpointing Poverty With Cellphone Data
Lighter colors show regions of Senegal with more poverty.
Credit: Neeti Pokhriyal
Mobile phone calls are analyzed to thwart crime and track diseases. Now, University at Buffalo researchers are studying if such data can help combat extreme poverty.
The effort, which focuses on Senegal, aims to improve maps that imprecisely break down poverty by 14 geographical regions in the African nation.
Researchers believe that call data records from millions of people, when fused with census and household survey data, can be used to drill down to at least 123 arrondissements nationwide, providing an unparalleled look at which communities lack access to food, health care, education, and other human necessities.
From University at Buffalo
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