Mapping the population is becoming more and more critical for telco operators.
The reasons and uses are various:
- Derive the % of population coverage
- Network dimensioning – capacity simulations
- Valuable input for determining network priorities
The goal of this study is to highlight the benefits of LuxCarta’s high-resolution population maps compared to other low-resolution ones. The focus will be on population maps covering entire countries.
Overview of Population Maps:
As the population is equally distributed over the entire area, the % of the population covered is equal to the % of the area covered.
Low-resolution scenario: 98% of the area covered corresponds to 98% of the population covered.
Resolution 5,000 up to 10,000 times higher
For entire countries, the LuxCarta’s PopMaps resolution is available at 10-meter resolution. Other population maps have a lower resolution, between 500 meters and 1 kilometer.
10-meter resolution vs. 1000-meter resolution:
Indoor vs. Outdoor
Another advantage of high-resolution population maps is to classify and differentiate indoor vs. outdoor, in other words, populated areas vs. empty areas (water, forest, …).
For even more precision and accuracy, the populated areas are sub-classified into 9 population densities, based on land-use classification (residential, urban, dense urban, …).
Population is mapped more accurately and more precisely on high-resolution maps, where we can observe a good matching between the type of area and the population associated.
Impact on Radio Planning / Percentage of Population Covered
One base station is serving this area, mostly forested. The coverage study shows that 98% of the area is covered by the network. The 2% without connectivity corresponds to the village area / populated area.
Scenario 1: deriving the % of population covered from high-resolution LuxCarta’s Population Map:
As the population is precisely mapped, the % of the population covered is derived only from inhabited areas.
High-resolution scenario: 98% of the area covered corresponds to 27% of the population covered.
Scenario 2: deriving the % of population covered from other low-resolution Population Map:
Conclusion:
For radio planning purpose and its derived population covered analysis, LuxCarta POPMAP presents various advantages :
- Higher resolution and level of detail
- Indoor vs. outdoor classification (populated vs. empty)
- Nine densities of population
- On-demand update based on satellite image photo interpretation, showing all urban changes
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