Geographic analysis, remote sensing and territorial characterisation
Our geographic analysis techniques provide up-to-date information about territories at the municipal and vereda level. We combine geographic information with field data and administrative records to understand where and how programmes operate.
Remote sensing and satellite imagery
We use satellite imagery and global geographic datasets (population, tree cover and deforestation, travel times, elevation, vegetation indices such as NDVI, and weather) to produce local statistics where official data is scarce, out of date or only available at the municipal level.
- Statistics for small or custom units: veredas, groups of municipalities or ecozones that don't match administrative boundaries.
- Time series to target and evaluate programmes, for example changes in tree cover or vegetation (NDVI) at intervention sites compared with control sites.
- A dataset of variables for Colombia's more than 33,000 veredas: coca crops, illegal mining, deforestation, substitution payments, forced eradication and the agricultural census.
In the evaluation of IFAD's strategy in Central America's Dry Corridor, we used these sources to check whether resources had been concentrated in the municipalities that needed them most.
Download our presentation Towards a global GIS-based M&E system for development projects (PDF, 2.9 MB).
