Student Research Reports
Area Classification: Iteration and Implementation of Area Classification AI for Enhancing Civil Development
Country:United States of America
Student(s):David Ajao, Elle Bates, Naisha Bhandari, Jackson Choi
Grade Level:Secondary School (grades 9-12, ages 14-18)
GLOBE Educator(s):Cassie Soeffing
Contributors:Dr. Rusty Low, SME, IGES.
Peder Nelson, SME, Oregon State University.
Andrew Clark, SME, IGES
Dr. Erika Podest, SME, NASA JPL
Report Type(s):International Virtual Science Symposium Report, Mission Mosquito Report
Protocols:Land Cover Classification, Earth As a System
Presentation Video:
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Presentation Poster:
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Language(s):English
Date Submitted:01/08/2025
Abstract
The U.S. is an ethnically and economically diverse nation containing exceptional differences in
socioeconomic and urbanization levels throughout the nation. In order to maximize the quality of
life, the prediction of developmental and civil data is crucial for urban planners as it provides the
basis for the problems within a community that should be addressed. Our goal was to create a
tool that could utilize images taken by citizen scientists to supplement the existing geospatial
data often used in civil development. Though pictures gathered using citizen science are able to
provide extra context on their own, the tool created would involve automated classification,
generating more information at a faster pace. Building and Infrastructure Recognition using AI at
Large Scale (BRAILS) is a Python library that utilizes deep learning and computer vision. The
BRAILS modules, Occupancy Classifier, and Year Built Classification, fine-tune a model that
outputs a score (1-100) for urbanization level. The Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model,
supplemented by the BRAILS library, increased accuracy by accommodating additional urban
features predicted by the BRAILS modules. Our CNN model was trained on a dataset of 50
high-quality representations of each urbanization level (urban, suburban, rural) from our Earth
System Explorers, SEES2024, GLOBE Observer database using TensorFlow, reaching
exceptional accuracy (90%) in determining urbanization level. Currently, the model only expands
on the urbanization information given from geospatial imaging; however, in the future, the model
could be expanded by incorporating national databases like the Socioeconomic Data and
Application Center (SEDAC) and the US Census. This would provide a multitude of civil data
that can provide additional context to the imaging, helping civil developers further determine the
best course of action.
Keywords
Area Classification, Urbanization, CNN, BRAILS