Nightlights (a dataset released by NASA) is one of our favorite datasets at Locale.ai. It's is extremely useful for analysis if you want insights on external factors such as population & economic development.

In this piece, we analyzed how nightlights can be used to study the development of civilizations, borders, the effect of wars and development on counties and took examples of India, Syria, China, Pakistan, South Korea, Egypt etc. Since this dataset gets updated daily & is at very granular levels, it can be helpful for businesses to decide which city you should expand into or which set of locations you should focus your launches or marketing efforts.

But, processing this comes with its own unique challenges of correcting for cloud, solar flares, forest fires at scale. If you are fascinated by the world of satellite imagery or satellite data, check it out on Towards Data Science here: https://towardsdatascience.com/illuminating-human-activities-using-the-night-light-9caceaab7867