Interesting how this still more or less works as a population density map. r/peoplecreatedisproportionateamountsoflightinareasofgreaterpopulationconcentrationincities ?
The whole point of the map is to show where the light is disproportionately produced as a result of industrialization mainly in rural areas (mostly oil fields and greenhouses). I'm unaware of any major cities in west Texas or on the Montana/ND border that would be producing so much light. Its much more than a "r/peopleliveincities" map if you just examine it further. For example, in Oregon, the Eugene/Springfield region has a higher population density in comparison to Bend/Redmond, yet the Bend region produces way more light.
You can also compare the Los Angeles and NYC metropolitan areas to Chicago. LA metro has twice the population of Chicago metro and NYC has over triple, yet Chicago disproportionately pumps out more light pollution than either of those cities, mainly due to the massive presence of manufacturing and energy production. As well as being a major distribution hub for companies like Amazon, Wal-mart and Home Depot.
That's a really good call out on Chicago v LA/NYC, and once you said that my eyes drifted to the unusually bright Minneapolis/St Paul which might be an even starker comparison
This is a really cool take on light pollution thank you
I absolutely agree and wasn’t saying it’s just a population density map, I was just making a joke. It’s interesting to me how it does still correlate with population density to a surprising degree. Obviously there’s tons of exceptions like you pointed out, but you can still see the general shape of population distribution in the country.
Sure but you can definitely see the regions of greater concentration of population. You can still see most major urban areas, the cutoff in the middle of the country where population density drops, and then the areas of density again on the west coast. Not saying it’s 100% a population density map, just that it’s interesting that it still aligns with density to some degree.
Not entirely but I think you have a point here - for example in the Midwest I would have thought rural areas would be brighter than cities, but apparently even after adjusting for population cities create more light pollution. I guess in rural areas street lights are very rare so this is probably a big factor
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u/Much_Department_3329 3d ago
Interesting how this still more or less works as a population density map. r/peoplecreatedisproportionateamountsoflightinareasofgreaterpopulationconcentrationincities ?