# GlobalBuildingMap — Unveiling the mystery of global buildings

## TL;DR

The GlobalBuildingMap project creates the most detailed building map ever, showing how buildings impact the planet and how rooftop solar could meet global energy needs.

## Contribution

The creation of the highest resolution and most accurate global building map using big data analytics and satellite imagery.

## Key findings

- Rooftop solar panels on all buildings could supply 1.1–3.3 times the global energy consumption in 2020.
- The GlobalBuildingMap reveals the distribution of buildings and their potential for solar energy generation.
- The built environment significantly affects local climate and resource distribution.

## Abstract

Understanding how buildings are distributed globally is crucial to revealing the human footprint on our home planet. This built environment affects local climate, land surface albedo, resource distribution, and many other key factors that influence well-being and human health. Despite this, quantitative and comprehensive data on the distribution and properties of buildings worldwide is lacking. Using a big data analytics approach and nearly 800,000 satellite images, we generated the highest resolution and highest accuracy building map ever created: the GlobalBuildingMap (GBM). A joint analysis of building maps and solar potentials indicates that rooftop solar energy can supply the global energy consumption need at a reasonable cost. Specifically, if solar panels were placed on the roofs of all buildings, they could supply 1.1–3.3 times — depending on the efficiency of the solar device — the global energy consumption in 2020.