Related papers: Breaking new ground in mapping human settlements f…
Human settlements are the cause and consequence of most environmental and societal changes on Earth; however, their location and extent is still under debate. We provide here a new 10m resolution (0.32 arc sec) global map of human…
High resolution datasets of population density which accurately map sparsely-distributed human populations do not exist at a global scale. Typically, population data is obtained using censuses and statistical modeling. More recently,…
Accurate and consistent mapping of urban and rural areas is crucial for sustainable development, spatial planning, and policy design. It is particularly important in simulating the complex interactions between human activities and natural…
Spatially consistent and up-to-date maps of human settlements are crucial for addressing policies related to urbanization and sustainability, especially in the era of an increasingly urbanized world.The availability of open and free…
In an impending urban age where the majority of the world's population will live in cities, it is critical that we improve our understanding of the strengths and limitations of existing city designs to ensure they are safe, clean, can…
Population estimation is crucial for various applications, from resource allocation to urban planning. Traditional methods such as surveys and censuses are expensive, time-consuming and also heavily dependent on human resources, requiring…
Fine urban change segmentation using multi-temporal remote sensing images is essential for understanding human-environment interactions in urban areas. Although there have been advances in high-quality land cover datasets that reveal the…
About half of the world population already live in urban areas. It is projected that by 2050, approximately 70% of the world population will live in cities. In addition to this, most developing countries do not have reliable population…
High-resolution human settlement maps provide detailed delineations of where people live and are vital for scientific and practical purposes, such as rapid disaster response, allocation of humanitarian resources, and international…
As of 2014, 54% of the earth's population resides in urban areas, and it is steadily increasing, expecting to reach 66% by 2050. Urban areas range from small cities with tens of thousands of people to megacities with greater than 10 million…
Understanding how buildings are distributed globally is crucial to revealing the human footprint on our home planet. This built environment affects local climate, land surface albedo, resource distribution, and many other key factors that…
Human settlements on Earth are scattered in a multitude of shapes, sizes and spatial arrangements. These patterns are often not random but a result of complex geographical, cultural, economic and historical processes that have profound…
Pixel-level slum mapping has long been constrained by limited cross-city generalisation, the absence of continuous density estimation, and weak global comparability. AlphaEarth Foundations (AEF), a globally consistent 64-dimensional annual…
Detecting and mapping informal settlements encompasses several of the United Nations sustainable development goals. This is because informal settlements are home to the most socially and economically vulnerable people on the planet. Thus,…
Urban flooding affects lives and infrastructure worldwide. Mapping inundation in complex urban environments from satellite imagery remains challenging due to limited spatial resolution, infrequent acquisitions, and cloud cover. We present…
Urban areas consume over two-thirds of the world's energy and account for more than 70 percent of global CO2 emissions. As stated in IPCC's Global Warming of 1.5C report, achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 requires a clear understanding of…
Accurate estimates of Above Ground Biomass (AGB) are essential in addressing two of humanity's biggest challenges: climate change and biodiversity loss. Existing datasets for AGB estimation from satellite imagery are limited. Either they…
Urban planners need up-to-date, global, and consistent street network models and indicators to measure resilience and performance, model accessibility, and target local quality-of-life interventions. This article presents up-to-date street…
Urban space is highly heterogeneous, with population and human activities concentrating in localized centers. However, the global organization of such intra-urban centers remains poorly understood due to the lack of consistent, comparable…
Urban Villages (UVs) represent a distinctive form of high-density informal settlement embedded within China's rapidly urbanizing cities. Accurate identification of UVs is critical for urban governance, renewal, and sustainable development.…