G-P05 · PROCESS · toolsGCRI dossier · service level R0
GCRICities and Built EnvironmentIn development
Data and technical methods

Data and technical methods

The public technical tools of Cities and Built Environment: what can be learned from them, the data behind them and their limits.

Open Released maps Back to Cities and Built Environment
Publisher
The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation
Field
Cities and built environment, Critical infrastructure, Society and human development
Status
In development
Service level
R0: information and enquiries

Pipeline

Data and technical methods · Workspace WS-14

One stage waitingGCRI · Cities and Built Environment

Stages

  1. Ingest5 sources
  2. Validateschema · licence
  3. Transformversioned
  4. ModelStructural and…
  5. Testheld-out
  6. Releasewith limits

Artefacts

Building footprintsv6.6To checkDERIVED
Municipal asset registerv3.8OpenOFFICIAL
Flood hazard layerv2.2OpenMODELLED
Census and ward statisticsv1.3To checkOFFICIAL

Compute quota

share used vs alert level

CPU hours90 used · limit 80Storage70 used · limit 90GPU hours28 used · limit 70

Cities and Built Environment · PipelinePipeline, in outline: domain structure with placeholder names and illustrative values, not a record.

01In brief

The short answer.

Cities and Built Environment tools are the public technical views the platform releases on cities and built environment: maps and model descriptions, each with its time and space reference, sources, licence and uncertainty. Analysis runs in Nexus Foundry for authorized projects, and data that is not released is not available through these pages.

02Canvas

Scoping to review.

Canvas · scoping to reviewDesign, not a record
Data and technical methods: build, test and release in Nexus FoundryA request opens a workspace; data are ingested and validated; the model is built and tested on held-out data; an independent gate approves release with limits; the workspace is stood down and the record kept. Design of the process, not a record of a run.

Fig.A programme from scoping to the owner's decision. Design, not a record.

03Geography

Connected activity in India.

For data and technical methods, in GCRI's spatial-intelligence reading, the map opens on night lights, true-colour imagery and population density with true colour from NASA GIBS, framed on India; 3 further NASA layers wait in the list.

The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.

Layers 3

Connected activity, for this page

Latest available

NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth

Loading the latest NASA imagery.

Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.

For data and technical methods, in GCRI's spatial-intelligence reading, the map opens on night lights, true-colour imagery and population density with true colour from NASA GIBS, framed on India; 3 further NASA layers wait in the list.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date; indicators, not assessments of any place; claim ceiling INTEGRATED.

Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · Copernicus Sentinel-2 L2A · NASA HLS S30Sources and licences

  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • VIIRS Black Marble night-time lights, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; distributed by the NASA Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). CC BY 4.0
  • MODIS land products (vegetation indices, gross primary production, land cover), NASA LP DAAC and LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
  • © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
  • Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
  • Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
  • Observed (EO): Copernicus Sentinel-2 L2A (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026), Microsoft Planetary Computer
  • Observed (EO): NASA HLS S30 (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026). We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
  • Optional layers (5 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.

Layers and dates

  • Night-time lights, daily: VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2), NASA LAADS DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
  • True colour: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
  • Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
  • Land cover type (IGBP), yearly: MODIS Terra and Aqua land cover (MCD12Q1), NASA LP DAAC · 2024
  • Enhanced vegetation index, rolling 8 days: MODIS Terra EVI, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
  • Vegetation greenness (NDVI), rolling 8 days: MODIS Terra NDVI, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026

04Tools

What is published here.

Maps

Released maps

Open

Models

Reviewed models and scenarios

Open

Scenarios

Sector scenarios

Open

05Fitness for purpose

What every urban tool should state about itself.

Urban tools serve municipal planners, housing agencies and public health departments. A specialist checks the urban definition, the resolution of heat and flood products and the safeguards on informal settlement data. They draw on geospatial and spatial statistics methods and support the buildings and heat and informal settlements topics.

  • Urban definition used.
  • Resolution of heat and flood products.
  • Safeguards applied to informal settlement data.
06Build environment

Working with the tools.

Analysis runs in Nexus Foundry for authorized projects. Public pages show released views only, each with its time and space reference and its rights.

07Key terms

Terms used on this page.

Each term as this page uses it. Where a standard-setting body defines the term, the wording follows that body.

TermDefinition
Public-safe releaseA recorded decision on the detail at which a layer may be published without exposing sensitive sites or people.
Coordinate reference systemThe definition that ties coordinates to locations on Earth, catalogued with EPSG codes.
Model cardA short document describing a model's intended use, training data, performance and limits.
08Sources

Where this page's references lead.

The bodies and documents this page is read against. Status and editions change; each link goes to the issuing body.

09Pages

Pages in Data and technical methods.

Page

Released maps

Page

Reviewed models and scenarios

10Questions

Questions and answers.

Can I use the data?
Each released view states its licence and terms. Data that is not released is not available through these pages.
Related

Around Cities and Built Environment.

Cities and Built Environment

Bring your expertise to this field.

The current service level is R0: information and enquiries. An enquiry receives a reference and names the next step; applications, payments, compute allocations and registrations open only when their team, terms and review capacity exist.

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