README.md

---
license: cc-by-nc-4.0
language:
- en
---
# GlobalBuildingAtlas: An Open Global and Complete Dataset of Building Polygons, Heights, and LoD1 3D Models

[Paper](https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2025-327/)

## 1. Overview

**GlobalBuildingAtlas** is a dataset providing global and complete coverage of building polygons (**GBA.Polygon**), heights (**GBA.Height**), and Level of Detail 1 (LoD1) 3D building models (**GBA.LoD1**).  

It is the first open dataset to offer high-quality, consistent, and complete building data in 2D and 3D at the individual building level on a global scale.  

> ⚠️ **Note:**  
>- This repository corresponds to Part II of the GlobalBuildingAtlas dataset, including PART II of the GBA.Polygon dataset containing building polygons from sources other than ODbL-licensed ones, and GBA.LoD1 provided in JSON format and links all building polygon features in GBA.Polygon.
>- These building polygons are from [**Google Open Buildings**](https://sites.research.google/gr/open-buildings/), [**CLSM**](https://zenodo.org/records/8174931) or our own derivation. 
>- This repository (*GBA.LoD1*) is distributed under the **CC BY-NC 4.0 license**.  
>- For the Part I of the dataset, please refer to [HuggingFace](https://huggingface.co/datasets/zhu-xlab/GBA.ODbLPolygon).
>- For GBA.Height, please refer to [mediaTUM](https://mediatum.ub.tum.de/1782307).

More details: [https://github.com/zhu-xlab/GlobalBuildingAtlas](https://github.com/zhu-xlab/GlobalBuildingAtlas)

---

## 2. Format and Structure

File names reflect the geographic extent in **EPSG:4326 (WGS84)**:

- **5° × 5° tiles:**  
  `{e/w}{lon_min}_{n/s}{lat_max}_{e/w}{lon_max}_{n/s}{lat_min}`

---

## 3. How to Use the Data

1. **Access the representative dataset**  
   - Either in the [`representative/`](https://huggingface.co/datasets/zhu-xlab/GBA.LoD1/tree/main/representative) folder of this repository, or via [mediaTUM](https://mediatum.ub.tum.de/1782307).
2. **Identify tiles overlapping your region of interest (RoI)**  
   - For polygons and LoD1 models: use `lod1.geojson` to find the intersecting tiles in `GBA.Polygon` or `GBA.LoD1`.  
   - For heights: use `height_zip.geojson` and `height_tif.geojson` to find intersecting tiles in `GBA.Height`.
3. **Download required tiles**  
   - **ODbL polygons**: download from [HuggingFace](https://huggingface.co/datasets/zhu-xlab/GBA.ODbLPolygon) and save under:

     ```
     ./ODbLPolygon
     ```
   - **LoD1 polygons and other data**: download from this repository, and save under:
     ```
     ./Polygon
     ./LoD1
     ```
4. **Run the enrichment script**  
   ```bash
   python produce_lod1.py
    ```
   - You may also specify folder paths at your choice.
    ```bash
    python produce_lod1.py \
        --odbl_root /path/to/odbl \
        --polygon_root /path/to/polygon \
        --json_root /path/to/json \
        --output_root /path/to/output
    ```
   - The script will read the two GeoJSON folders and the JSON folder, merge the properties, and add height and var fields.
5. **Output**
   - LoD1 GeoJSON files will be written under
    ```
    ./LoD1_GeoJSON
    ```
    or the folder you specified.
    - If you are only interested in GBA.Polygon, you can ignore the `height` and `var` fields.
>- ⚠️Users may combine these datasets for analysis or downstream applications, but doing so **may create license implications**.  
>- ⚠️It is the responsibility of each user to ensure that their use complies with the respective licenses.  
>- ⚠️This repository does **not provide legal advice**; users should review the original licenses and, if necessary, consult legal counsel.
---
## 4. License

The building polygon and LoD1 data in this repository (**GBA.LoD1**) are licensed under the  
**CC BY-NC 4.0 license** — [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)

---

## 5. Citation
If you find this dataset useful for your work, please cite the following publication.

```
@Article{globalbuildingatlas,
        AUTHOR = {Zhu, X. X. and Chen, S. and Zhang, F. and Shi, Y. and Wang, Y.},
        TITLE = {GlobalBuildingAtlas: an open global and complete dataset of building polygons, heights and LoD1 3D models},
        JOURNAL = {Earth System Science Data},
        VOLUME = {17},
        YEAR = {2025},
        NUMBER = {12},
        PAGES = {6647--6668},
        URL = {https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/17/6647/2025/},
        DOI = {10.5194/essd-17-6647-2025}
}
```
---