Global Human Settlement Layer

The Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL) project of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre provides spatially detailed information on population and settlements. The GHSL project fosters an enhanced, public understanding of the human presence on Earth. The 2023 GHSL edition contributes significantly to understanding worldwide human settlements. It introduces new elements, like 10m resolution, sub-pixel estimation of built-up surfaces, global building height and volume estimates, and a classification of residential and non-residential areas, improving population density grids.

IdentificationAbout this resource

Alternate Identifier: 47d89bcb-8e14-41d2-a245-70fd6b95e124

Publication Date: 2024-08-30

Title: Global Human Settlement Layer

Short Name: GHSL

Abstract: The Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL) project of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre provides spatially detailed information on population and settlements. The GHSL project fosters an enhanced, public understanding of the human presence on Earth. The 2023 GHSL edition contributes significantly to understanding worldwide human settlements. It introduces new elements, like 10m resolution, sub-pixel estimation of built-up surfaces, global building height and volume estimates, and a classification of residential and non-residential areas, improving population density grids.

Dataset Language: English

Dataset Creator: Directorate for Societal Resilience and Security, European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) - Martino Pesaresi ()

Dataset Creator: NTT DATA - Marcello Schiavina ()

Dataset Creator: European Dynamics Belgium S.A. - Panagiotis Politis ()

Dataset Creator: Directorate for Societal Resilience and Security, European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) - Sergio Freire ()

Dataset Creator: Polish Academy of Sciences - Katarzyna Krasnodębska ()

Dataset Creator: Directorate for Societal Resilience and Security, European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) - Johannes H. Uhl ()

Dataset Creator: Directorate for Societal Resilience and Security, European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) - Alessandra Carioli ()

Dataset Creator: Directorate for Societal Resilience and Security, European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) - Cristina Corbane ()

Dataset Creator: Directorate for Fair and Sustainable Economy, European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC) - Lewis Dijkstra ()

Dataset Creator: Directorate for Societal Resilience and Security, European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) - Pietro Florio ()

Dataset Creator: University of Arizona - Hannah K. Friedrich ()

Dataset Creator: University of Delaware - Jing Gao ()

Dataset Creator: University of Colorado Boulder - Stefan Leyk ()

Dataset Creator: International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals | Chinese Academy of Sciences - Linlin Lu ()

Dataset Creator: UniSystems Luxembourg Sàrl - Luca Maffenini ()

Dataset Creator: FINCONS SPA - Ines Mari-Rivero ()

Dataset Creator: Directorate for Societal Resilience and Security, European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) - Michele Melchiorri ()

Dataset Creator: European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) - Vasileios Syrris ()

Dataset Creator: Oregon State University - Jamon Van Den Hoek ()

Dataset Creator: Directorate for Societal Resilience and Security, European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) - Thomas Kemper ()

Metadata Provider: SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics - Chiara Bortoluzzi (Data Manager)

Dataset Contact: Directorate for Societal Resilience and Security, European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) - Martino Pesaresi ()

Keywords (None)

Urbanisation
Global
Human Settlement
Settlement morphology
Terrestrial
Urban land use

Geographic Coverage

Geographic Description: Global

Bounding Box

West Bounding Coordinate: -180

East Bounding Coordinate: 180

North Bounding Coordinate: 90

South Bounding Coordinate: -90

Temporal Coverage

Range of Dates

Begin Date: 1975-01-01

End Date: 2030-12-31

resourceLicensesLicense Information

Intellectual Rights: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

Resource License

License Name: Creative Commons CC0

URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Acknowledgements

Distribution

Online

A brief description of the the content of online URL.: GHS-BUILT-S-R2023A

URL: https://human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu/ghs_buS2023.php

Distribution

Online

A brief description of the the content of online URL.: GHS-POP-R2023A

URL: https://human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu/ghs_pop2023.php

• Project

Title: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL)

Abstract: The GHSL image analytics framework has been tested with a large set of sensors including radar and optical public and commercial missions. The GHSL Data Package P2023 consists of multitemporal products that offer an insight into the human presence in the past (1975, 1990, 2000, and 2014). The European Settlement Map consists of pan-European built-up layers derived from higher resolution imagery.

Personnel

Organization Name

Individual Name

Given Name

Surname

Position Name

• Method

Method Step

Description: The spatial raster dataset depicts the distribution of built-up surfaces, expressed as number of square metres. The data report about the total built-up surface and the built-up surface allocated to dominant non-residential (NRES) uses. Data are spatial-temporal interpolated or extrapolated from 1975 to 2030 in 5 years internals. For the temporal anchor point of 2018 the data is published at 10m observed form the S2 image data.

Citation: Pesaresi M., Schiavina M., Politis P., Freire S., Krasnodębska K., Uhl J. H., Carioli A., Corbane C., Dijkstra L., Florio P., Friedrich H. K., Gao J., Leyk S., Lu L., Maffenini L., Mari-Rivero I., Melchiorri M., Syrris V., Van Den Hoek J., Kemper T. Advances on the Global Human Settlement Layer by joint assessment of Earth Observation and population survey data, International Journal of Digital Earth 17 (1), 2024 10.1080/17538947.2024.2390454.

Software

Title: GHS-BUILT-S R2023A - GHS built-up surface grid, derived from Sentinel2 composite and Landsat, multitemporal (1975-2030)

Version: 1.0

Method Step

Description: The spatial raster dataset depicts the distribution of residential population, expressed as the number of people per cell. Residential population estimates between 1975 and 2020 in 5-year intervals and projections to 2025 and 2030 derived from CIESIN GPWv4.11 were disaggregated from census or administrative units to grid cells, informed by the distribution, volume, and classification of built-up as mapped in the Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL) global layer per corresponding epoch.

Citation: Pesaresi M., Schiavina M., Politis P., Freire S., Krasnodębska K., Uhl J. H., Carioli A., Corbane C., Dijkstra L., Florio P., Friedrich H. K., Gao J., Leyk S., Lu L., Maffenini L., Mari-Rivero I., Melchiorri M., Syrris V., Van Den Hoek J., Kemper T. Advances on the Global Human Settlement Layer by joint assessment of Earth Observation and population survey data, International Journal of Digital Earth 17 (1), 2024 10.1080/17538947.2024.2390454.

Software

Title: GHS-POP R2023A - GHS population grid multitemporal (1975-2030)

Version: 1.0

• Data Table

Name

Physical

Data Format

Externally Defined Format

Format Name: GeoTIFF

Global Human Settlement Layer

Default

IdentificationAbout this resource

Geographic Coverage

Bounding Box

Temporal Coverage

Range of Dates

resourceLicensesLicense Information

Resource License

Distribution

Online

Distribution

Online

Project

• Project

Personnel

Individual Name

Methods

• Method

Method Step

Software

Method Step

Software

Data Tables

• Data Table

Physical

Data Format

Externally Defined Format