Space to Policy: Scalable Brick Kiln Detection and Automatic Compliance Monitoring with Geospatial Data

TL;DR

This paper presents a scalable machine-learning pipeline that detects and classifies thousands of brick kilns using free satellite imagery, enabling automated compliance monitoring and revealing policy impacts on kiln technology adoption.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel scalable detection and classification pipeline for brick kilns using moderate-resolution satellite data, integrating automated compliance analysis with policy insights.

Findings

Detected 30,638 brick kilns across five states.

High correlation between detections and ground surveys.

Policy enforcement correlates with adoption of efficient kiln technologies.

Abstract

Air pollution kills 7 million people annually. The brick kiln sector significantly contributes to economic development but also accounts for 8-14\% of air pollution in India. Policymakers have implemented compliance measures to regulate brick kilns. Emission inventories are critical for air quality modeling and source apportionment studies. However, the largely unorganized nature of the brick kiln sector necessitates labor-intensive survey efforts for monitoring. Recent efforts by air quality researchers have relied on manual annotation of brick kilns using satellite imagery to build emission inventories, but this approach lacks scalability. Machine-learning-based object detection methods have shown promise for detecting brick kilns; however, previous studies often rely on costly high-resolution imagery and fail to integrate with governmental policies. In this work, we developed a scalable machine-learning pipeline that detected and classified 30638 brick kilns across five states in the Indo-Gangetic Plain using free, moderate-resolution satellite imagery from Planet Labs. Our detections have a high correlation with on-ground surveys. We performed automated compliance analysis based on government policies. In the Delhi airshed, stricter policy enforcement has led to the adoption of efficient brick kiln technologies. This study highlights the need for inclusive policies that balance environmental sustainability with the livelihoods of workers.