Artificial light at night (ALAN) data is widely used in urban function analysis and socio-economic activity monitoring, but its application at the micro-scale of cities still faces challenges. This study utilizes high spatial resolution SDGSAT-1 nighttime light data to explore the spatial heterogeneity of ALAN at the street scale in two representative Chinese cities—Beijing and Guangzhou. By integrating multi-source data (such as building vector data, road networks, and point of interest data), a multi-dimensional indicator system covering urban morphology, functional structure, and transportation accessibility is constructed. Based on this, the study employs a Geographically Weighted Random Forest (GWRF) model combined with the Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) method to deeply analyze the non-linear relationships between ALAN intensity and multiple driving factors, as well as their spatial variability. Results demonstrate the superiority of the GWRF model over global models in capturing spatial non-stationarity, with R² values of 0.67 for Beijing and 0.74 for Guangzhou, compared to 0.62 and 0.71 for the random forest models, respectively. Road density is the dominant factor influencing nighttime light intensity in both Beijing and Guangzhou. However, the relationship between ALAN and its driving factors varies across these cities. In Beijing, a balanced multi-factor model is observed, whereas in Guangzhou, ALAN intensity is primarily driven by road density, with secondary influences from other factors like sky view factor. This study validates SDGSAT-1 for micro-scale analysis, offering a scientific basis for differentiated urban lighting planning.

Nighttime light (NTL) data is widely used to monitor urban development, economic activity and population distribution, supporting socio-economic analysis and sustainable development planning. SDGSAT-1 NTL data, with its multiple bands and high resolution, has become an important source for studying human activity patterns. However, directly summing radiance values on geographic grids assumes equal contributions from all grid cells, regardless of the differences in the ground area represented by each cell. As a result, regional nighttime light totals may be systematically distorted, particularly in cross-latitude analyses where pixel areas differ substantially. To address this aggregation issue, this study proposes a physically explicit area-weighting framework that converts SDGSAT-1 radiance to radiant flux by incorporating the actual surface area represented by each grid cell. The framework is validated using 25 cities spanning different latitudes and development levels in the Northern Hemisphere. Results show that the radiant flux model, which captures total emitted power, demonstrates improved performance over radiance-based aggregation (a density-based measure) in population estimation (R² = 0.85 vs. 0.82). By shifting from light intensity to integrated total energy, this approach improves cross-latitude comparability and enhances the methodological robustness of NTL-based analyses.