My GeoNetwork catalogue
Global Urban Footprint (GUF) - TSX/TDX - Global
The Global Urban Footprint® (GUF®) dataset is based on the radar (SAR) satellite imagery of the German satellites TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X. By creating the GUF database, scientists at the German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) have succeeded in using a newly developed method to generate a global raster map of the world’s built-up pattern in a so far unprecedented spatial resolution of about 12m per raster cell.
Using a fully automated processing system, a global coverage of more than 180,000 very high resolution SAR images (3m ground resolution) has been analyzed acquired between 2010 and 2013. Thereby, the backscatter amplitudes of the SAR data have been used in combination with derived textural information to delineate human settlements in a highly automated, complex decision-making process. The evaluation procedure based mainly on radar signals detects the characteristic vertical structures of human habitations – primarily built-up areas. In addition, auxiliary data such as digital elevation models have been included to improve the classification process. In total, over 20 million datasets were processed with a combined volume of about 320 terabytes. The final global maps show three coverage categories (e. g. in a B/W representation): Built-up areas (vertical structures only) in black, non-built-up surfaces in white, areas of no coverage by TSX/TDX satellites (NoData) as most parts of the oceans in grey.
The final product has been optimized for fast online access through web services by merging the 5 x 5 degree GUF tiles into a single global mosaic. Furthermore reduced resolution overviews have been generated with an interpolation algorithm, that computes the average value of all contribution pixels. The global mosaic uses PackBits compression to reduce file size.
(GUF® and Global Urban Footprint® are protected as trademarks.)
INSPIRE
Identification
- File identifier
- f167eb8a-b2d3-4f86-b0aa-fb246b08dcb3 XML
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
Online resource
- Protocol
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OGC:WMS-1.3.0-http-get-map
- Protocol
-
OGC:WMS-1.3.0-http-get-map
- Protocol
-
GLG:KML-2.0-http-get-map
- Protocol
-
GLG:KML-2.0-http-get-map
- Protocol
-
WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link
- Protocol
-
WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link
- Protocol
-
WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link
Resource identifier
- Metadata language
- English
- Spatial representation type
- Grid
Encoding
Projection
- code
-
WGS 84 (EPSG:4326)
Classification of data and services
- Topic category
-
- Planning cadastre
Classification of data and services
Coupled resource
Coupled resource
Classification of data and services
Coupled resource
Coupled resource
Keywords
- GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0
-
-
Land cover
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Other keywords
- Keywords
-
-
Land
-
urbanization
-
global mapping
-
settlement patterns
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TerraSAR-X
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TanDEM-X
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SAR
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X-Band
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TSX-1
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TDX-1
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texture
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Geographic coverage
))
Temporal reference
Temporal extent
- Begin
- 2010-12-01T00:00:00
- End
- 2013-06-30T00:00:00
Temporal extent
- Date (Publication)
- 2016-11-18T00:00:00
Quality and validity
- Lineage
-
The Global Urban Footprint® (GUF®) dataset is based on the radar (SAR) satellite imagery of the German satellites TerraSAR X and TanDEM X. Using a fully automated processing system, the so-called Urban Footprint Processor, a global coverage of more than 180,000 very high resolution SAR images (3m ground resolution) has been analyzed, mainly acquired between 2010 and 2013. Thereby, the backscatter amplitudes of the SAR data have been used in combination with derived textural information to delineate human settlements in a highly automated, complex decision-making process. In addition, auxiliary data such as digital elevation models have been included to improve the classification process. The data collection of satellite imagery was performed mainly between 2011 and 2012 (93 %), with single scenes with more recent acquisition dates (of 2013 / 2014) used to fill data gaps.
For more details see:
Esch, T., Marconcini, M., Felbier, A., Roth, A., Heldens, W., Huber, M., Schwinger, M., Taubenböck, H., Müller, A., Dech, S. (2013) Urban Footprint Processor – Fully Automated Processing Chain Generating Settlement Masks from Global Data of the TanDEM-X Mission. IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, Vol. 10, No. 6, November 2013. Pp. 1617-1621. ISSN 1545-598X, DOI 10.1109/LGRS.2013.2272953 (see: http://elib.dlr.de/83318/ )
- Denominator
- 24000
Conformity
Conformity
Conformity
Conformity
Conformity
Conformity
- Explanation
-
See the referenced specification
Restrictions on access and use
- Access constraints
-
Nutzungsbedingungen: A non-exclusive, spatially and temporally unlimited, non-transferable, non-sublicensable right to use GUF is granted free of charge for
- scientific purposes on the high resolution version of GUF® (0.4 arcseconds),
- non-commercial purposes on the low resolution version of the GUF® (2.8 arcseconds).
This license does not grant any commercial use of GUF® or products generated or derived by GUF®.
Responsible organization (s)
Contact for the resource
- Organisation name
-
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
- Organisation name
-
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Responsible organization (s)
Contact for the resource
- Organisation name
-
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
- Organisation name
-
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Metadata information
Contact for the metadata
- Organisation name
-
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
- Date stamp
- 2024-06-20T13:06:53
- Metadata language
- English
- Character set
- UTF8
SDS
Conformance class 1: invocable
Access Point URL
Endpoint URL
Technical specification
Conformance class 2: interoperable
Access constraints
Limitation
Use constraints
Limitation
Responsible custodian
Contact for the resource
Overviews
Spatial extent
Provided by
