Discovering Emerging Urban Hotspots Using Satellite Imagery and Human Mobility Data

Nodira Tillayeva, Haru Terashima, Naoki Tamura, Kazuyuki Shoji, Tahera Hossain, Shin Katayama, Kenta Urano, Takuro Yonezawa, Nobuo Kawaguchi

Abstract: Identifying and prioritizing newly emerging points of interest in urban areas is critical for enhancing citizens’ exploration and engagement with their cities. However, traditional discovery channels—such as local media or social networks—often fail to capture real-time urban transformations comprehensively. In this paper, we propose a data-driven methodology that integrates satellite-based change detection with human mobility analytics to reveal, rank, and recommend newly formed or transformed urban hotspots. Specifically, we employ Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Rapid and EAsy Change detection in radar TIme-series by Variation coefficient (REACTIV) to detect structural changes in satellite imagery, and we combine these insights with Area2Vec embeddings derived from BlogWatcher data (2019–2024) to measure shifts in human movement patterns. Our experiments on the rapidly evolving city of Nagoya demonstrate a strong correlation between physical urban transformations and mobility changes, enabling us to pinpoint and prioritize locations with the highest potential appeal. This approach has broad applications for city residents, tourists, businesses, and urban planners by facilitating more informed and timely exploration of dynamic urban spaces.