BUREF - producing a global reference layer of built-up areas by integrating population and remote sensing data

This paper presents the Global Built-up Reference Layer (BUREF2010), a spatial raster dataset containing an estimation of the distribution and density of built-up areas using publicly available global spatial data to the year 2010. The authors discuss the rationale and the methodological steps adopted for the production of BUREF with examples and outputs.

This publication demonstrates that:

• Mapping and assessing global built-up areas is relevant for many applications, spanning the domains of research, decision and policy-making.
• The method presented combines satellite-derived land cover information and a population density grid through machine learning techniques in order to infer the percentage of land occupied by buildings.
• The BUREF layer improves the representation of global built-up areas compared to existing maps while being suitable to integrate with other spatial datasets for analysis or modelling.

This document is a background paper of the 2015 Global Risk Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction.