ecolo-zip: A global, rich and granular characterization of biogeophysical ecology for 1.5 million postal codes

Abstract

The inescapable fact that human life is perpetually embedded in a tangible biogeophysical environment – and the consequences that this has for individuals and societies – have long fascinated scholars of all backgrounds. Technological progress and the advent of big data have spurred ever-more precise attempts to quantify our biogeophysical environments. However, many such datasets lack spatial granularity, global coverage, content depth, or accessibility. Here, we introduce ecolo-zip, a novel geospatial dataset that provides a granular-yet-global, parsimonious-yet-rich ecological characterization of over 1.5 million postal codes across 94 countries and regions. Combining two large-scale satellite image resources (ASTER; SRTM, ICC = 0.999) and a customized geospatial sampling model, we provide high-resolution indicators of physical topography (elevation, mountainousness, distance to sea), vegetation (normalized difference vegetation index), and climate (surface temperature). With this resource – featuring methodological details, visualizations, and application suggestions – we hope to contribute towards understanding the multi-faceted interactions between humans and their environments.