A new map of global urban extent from MODIS satellite data

Anton Schneider · M. A. Friedl · David Potere

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Remote Sensing and Land Use Land Use and Ecosystem Services Remote-Sensing Image Classification

Abstract

Although only a small percentage of global land cover, urban areas significantly alter climate, biogeochemistry, and hydrology at local, regional, and global scales. To understand the impact of urban areas on these processes, high quality, regularly updated information on the urban environment—including maps that monitor location and extent—is essential. Here we present results from efforts to map the global distribution of urban land use at 500 m spatial resolution using remotely sensed data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Our approach uses a supervised decision tree classification algorithm that we process using region-specific parameters. An accuracy assessment based on sites from a stratified random sample of 140 cities shows that the new map has an overall accuracy of 93% ( k = 0.65) at the pixel level and a high level of agreement at the city scale ( R 2 = 0.90). Our results (available at http://sage.wisc.edu/urbanenvironment.html ) also reveal that the land footprint of cities occupies less than 0.5% of the Earth's total land area.

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References

2010Mapping global urban areas using MODIS 500-m data: New methods and datasets based on ‘urban ecoregions’1989Cities and economic development: from the dawn of history to the present 2005The dynamics of global urban expansion 1990Cities and Economic Development: From the Dawn of History to the Present 1992The digital chart of the world project

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2010Urbanization and its implications for food and farming 2010The New Geography of Contemporary Urbanization and the Environment 2010Mapping global urban areas using MODIS 500-m data: New methods and datasets based on ‘urban ecoregions’2019Understanding an urbanizing planet: Strategic directions for remote sensing 2014Human Settlements, Infrastructure and Spatial Planning 2012Urban sprawl and fragmentation in Latin America: A dynamic quantification and characterization of spatial patterns 2021Where greenspace matters most: A systematic review of urbanicity, greenspace, and physical health 2015Human Settlements, Infrastructure, and Spatial Planning

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