Facebook has announced it will make highly detailed maps of places where it believes people are living available to the public later this year.
The social network has been using artificial intelligence software to scan satellite imagery and identify human-built structures. It hopes to use the information to determine where internet-beaming drones would best be deployed. But it suggests others could also make use of the maps. "We believe this data has many more impactful applications, such as socio-economic research and risk assessment for natural disasters," Facebook said in a blog. One expert raised concerns. "I am torn in my reaction between excitement at the technical innovation and concern about the public policy issues," said Emily Taylor, an associate fellow at the Chatham House think tank.
"This takes knowing your customers to stalker-like levels." But the British Red Cross charity said the initiative could potentially help it locate vulnerable communities. Finer details Facebook first detailed its work on the mapping project last year, in a briefing about its Aquila drones. At the time, the social network's engineering chief, Jay Parikh, said the technology could spot structures as small as a tent. He said the population maps it produced were many times more detailed than those of an alternative scheme co-ordinated by Columbia University, the Gridded Population of the World (GPW) project, which seeks to collate existing data.