Visualizing Australia’s urban extent: A comparison between residential housing addresses and night-time light data

Abstract

This graphic uses the 2014 Geocoded National Address File (G-NAF), a geocoded address database containing the physical addresses of all properties in Australia, to extract residential property addresses, and then uses Baidu eCharts visualization library to map out the extent of urban areas in Australia and its major metropolitan regions. By comparing with the DMSP-OLS night-time light data we identify the advantages of using G-NAF for mapping urban extent and its potential in monitoring and modeling urban growth and change.