Abstracts wanted: Advances in the Use of Remote Sensing in the Social Sciences

In the twenty years since the publication of People and Pixels: Linking Remote Sensing and Social Science (NRC, 1998) there have been many advances in social science applications of remote sensing. New research opportunities are opening because of the increasing array of social science data (e.g., mobile phone and social media data), the growing variety of satellite and aerial data sources (e.g., VIIRS nightlights, radar, UAVs), and the access to computation cyberinfrastructure for the analysis of massive spatio-temporal data sets. This session will showcase current trends in land cover research as well as newer application areas such as urbanization, geohealth, and disasters. Papers will discuss methods and results, as well as broader topics such as the use of data to test social science theories, the challenges of interdisciplinary research, and policy relevance and societal benefits.