Global 30 meters spatiotemporal 3D urban expansion dataset from 1990 to 2010

Abstract

Understanding the spatiotemporal dynamics of global 3D urban expansion over time is becoming increasingly crucial for achieving long-term development goals. In this study, we generated a global dataset of annual urban 3D expansion (1990–2010) using World Settlement Footprint 2015 data, GAIA data, and ALOS AW3D30 data with a three-step technical framework: (1) extracting the global constructed land to generate the research area, (2) neighborhood analysis to calculate the original normalized DSM and slope height of each pixel in the study area, and (3) slope correction for areas with a slope greater than 10° to improve the accuracy of estimated building heights. The cross-validation results indicate that our dataset is reliable in the United States(R2 = 0.821), Europe(R2 = 0.863), China(R2 = 0.796), and across the world(R2 = 0.811). As we know, this is the first 30-meter 3D urban expansion dataset across the globe, which can give unique information to understand and address the implications of urbanization on food security, biodiversity, climate change, and public well-being and health.