SEDAC Releases Global Urban Polygons and Points Dataset (GUPPD), Version 1

[SEDAC - evlukang]

SEDAC is pleased to announce the release of the Global Urban Polygons and Points Dataset (GUPPD), Version 1 data set. The data set is a global data set of 123,034 urban settlements with place names and population for the years 1975-2030 in five-year increments. This data set can be used to delineate urban areas, to mask out urban areas, and to identify the population trends over time for various urban areas. This vector data set of urban settlements with names and time series population can be used for data visualization and a variety of analytical purposes.

The data set builds on and expands the European Commission, Joint Research Centre's (JRC) 2015 Global Human Settlement (GHS) Urban Centre Database (UCDB). The JRC Settlement Model (GHS-SMOD) data set includes a hierarchy of urban settlements, from urban centre (level 30), to dense urban cluster (level 23), to semi-dense urban cluster (level 22). The UCDB only includes level 30, whereas the GUPPDv1 adds levels 23 and 22. In order to support NASA’s mission towards open science, all of the input data sets used in the GUPPDv1 methodology are open data. For example, settlement names were derived from one of two open data sources: GeoNames or OpenStreetMap (OSM). This data set is aligned with the goals of the GEO Human Planet Initiative and supports Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) monitoring, the New Urban Agenda, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

For more information, see https://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/data/set/urbanspatial-guppd-v1