🏡 Scientists Have Created a 3D Map of Nearly Every Building on Earth

An international team of scientists has unveiled the Global Building Atlas—the most detailed 3D map of buildings in human history. It features 2.75 billion objects, almost 97% of all structures on Earth. Each building is depicted with an accuracy of 3×3 meters, including height, volume, and precise outlines.

This was achieved using 800,000 satellite images and machine learning models trained on laser scanning data from 168 cities.

🏠 Why Is This Needed?

Cities are not just flat spots on a map. Two districts with the same area can differ radically in density, quality of life, and disaster vulnerability.

For example, Asia already accounts for almost half of the world's buildings. It dominates construction volumes—thanks to the megacities of China, India, and Southeast Asia. Africa has many buildings as well, but on average, they are lower and smaller. Such differences are impossible to see on ordinary 2D maps.

Researchers also believe that this data will help identify corruption in the construction sector, analyze the growth of informal settlements and social inequality, more accurately predict the consequences of disasters, and track the real development of cities, which may differ significantly from the numbers in official reports.

🗺 You can find your house on the Global Building Atlas here.

@hiaimediaen