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Google Open Buildings
Google Open Buildings: building footprint polygons from high-resolution satellite imagery across Africa, South/Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, with temporal 2.5D height/presence layers.
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What's in it
- Data offered docs-verified
- building footprint polygons (WKT geometry) · building centroid points · per-building confidence score (0.65 to 1.0) · full Plus Code at building centroid · S2 level-4 confidence score thresholds per cell
- Coverage docs-verified
- Africa, South Asia, South-East Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean (58M km2 inference area); country list in FAQ, subject to change · Inference runs: v1 April 2021, v2 August 2022, v3 May 2023 (v3 is current)
- Formats docs-verified
- CSV · WKT (geometry column in CSV) · GeoJSON (tile geometry metadata)
- Access docs-verified
- Free and open bulk download from gs://open-buildings-data (gsutil); also viewable/downloadable via Google Earth Engine; no authentication stated in docs. Licence: CC BY-4.0 or ODbL v1.0 (user may choose).
Useful for
- Use cases llm-inferred
- Flood-risk screening: count buildings and households within a hazard extent in an African or South Asian catchment · Sampling frame for ground investigations or community engagement on overseas projects · Settlement density input for water demand or sanitation planning in data-sparse areas
- Audience llm-inferred
- flood consultants · hydrologists · GIS analysts · drainage engineers (overseas projects) · planners
Limitations
- Constraints llm-inferred
- Contains omission and commission errors (false detections, inaccurate shapes) · Less accurate in some urban, arid and rural areas; high-rise footprints can be offset · Geometry only: no building type, street address or other attributes · Very large bulk downloads: polygons 178 GB total, points 48 GB total · Covered-country list does not include the UK; not suitable as UK baseline without other data · Entry description cites temporal 2.5D height/presence layers; docs describe only footprints, points, confidence and thresholds, so height layers are unverified · Entry metadata region 'Global' conflicts with the coverage stated in docs · Imagery-based inference dated 2021 to 2023; may not reflect current building stock
- Licence
- CC-BY-4.0 / ODbL
- Authentication
- none
- GitHub stars
- Unknown
- Last commit
- Unknown
- Last successful page check
- 14/10/2026
- Page health
- healthy
- Package
- Not recorded
- Verification
- Not independently verified
Provenance & evidence
Verified 2026-10-15 via curl (HTTP 200).
Metadata observed 14/10/2026 · research sweep: manual-2026-10-15 (Chris sources (Google Research geospatial))