The Exposure Mapping service

The Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS) offers Exposure-related services that utilize EO data to support risk assessments. These services include the provision of geospatial information and maps that help identify and analyze elements at risk, such as buildings, critical infrastructure, and land use. The data and products provided by the Copernicus EMS can assist in understanding the potential impacts of natural or man-made disasters on these assets.

The Copernicus EMS exposure mapping component provides highly accurate and continuously updated information on the presence of human settlements and population with the Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL). It is Supported by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the DG for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) of the European Commission, together with the international partnership GEO Human Planet Initiative.

The Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL, see: https://ghsl.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ ) provides detailed information on disaster exposure to support crisis management and the assessment of disaster risks. The scope of the exposure mapping component of the Copernicus EMS is to provide, with the Global Human Settlements Layer, highly accurate information derived from satellite and census data on the presence of settlements and population. GHSL datasets are available globally and can be downloaded for free by tile. They are available for different epochs ranging from 1975-2030, as well as different coordinate systems. Not all combinations of options are available i.e. some products are only available at certain resolutions and/or certain years. The data is downloaded by selecting the desired options then the tile on the map. A global visualization of the data is also available as a map preview. The different products available are Built-up surface (with height and volume options), population gird (with settlement and functional urban area options), and other more specific characteristics. Population grids are effective datasets to assess the amount of resident population at fine spatial resolution. Population counts per grid cell quantify the amount of people exposed to hazards. Built-up surface grids are essential information to map human settlements and their characteristics (like land use and density). The amount of built-up surface per grid cell is useful to estimate settlement typologies and is used as covariate for population disaggregation.