Import/Google Open Buildings
This is a plan for the addition of Open Buildings data that has been created and shared by Google Research. This effort builds on recent assisted mapping projects in which buildings data has been prepared for mappers to add to OpenStreetMap via OSM editors (see Data Updates section below). For a list of other Esri-curated datasets that are available for mapping, please see Esri ArcGIS Datasets.
Goals
The goal of this effort is to add the Open Buildings data to OSM, which would greatly enhance the coverage of buildings while retaining the many buildings already added to OSM.
Schedule
Google Research announced the availability of the global Open Buildings in in mid-2023. Esri downloaded and began preparing the data in select countries for use in OSM editors in December 2023. The edits to OSM would be performed incrementally by OSM mappers over the remainder of 2023 and beyond, starting after data is reviewed by the OSM community
Source
The processed building footprints that could be added to OSM are available to access on ArcGIS Online using the ArcGIS Online links below. You can Open in Map Viewer to preview (click features to view tags) or sign in to export data for offline use.
OSM ODbL Compliance: Yes, the data is provided under the Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL) v1.0 license.
Layers
| Region | Status |
|---|---|
| India | Available to Edit |
| Peru | Available to Edit |
| Pakistan | Available to Edit |
| Nepal | Available to Edit |
| Ecuador | Available to Edit |
| Bangladesh | Available to Edit |
| Argentina | Available to Edit |
| Mexico | Available to Preview |
Data Preparation
The processed building footprints referenced above were created by importing the raw global CSVs and translating them to file geodatabase. The footprints were then extracted by country and published as feature layers to ArcGIS Online. Statistics for each country-specific layer can be found below, as well as in the ArcGIS Online item details for each layer. All the layers contain a single field (building) that has been added by Esri for use as a tag in OSM (i.e. building=yes)
Data Conflation
Existing building features in OSM will not be replaced. The plan is for OSM mappers to add new buildings for selected areas by using and modifying the building footprints and adding additional tags that are appropriate (e.g. street, city, country).
Data Updates
The plan is to perform the updates using a updated version of RapiD and an updated Map with AI plugin for JOSM (see Esri blog post on new tools in OSM editors for more detail). The new tools enable OSM mappers to access ArcGIS Datasets hosted in ArcGIS Online and select individual features to use while editing OSM. The mapper is able to select a feature, review and edit the feature geometry and available fields, and then save their edits.
The mapper has the benefit of using existing features that have been created by the data provider, along with their available field values that have been pre-processed by Esri, while also being able to compare that feature with existing OSM data (e.g. street names) and imagery to ensure it is accurate and consistent. The data source used for the edit will be added as a tag to each feature that is saved as part of a changeset unless deleted by mapper.
Accounts
The plan is for OSM mappers to use their standard OSM accounts if they are editing with RapiD and JOSM editors for OSM and editing individual features. However, if OSM mappers wish to do any 'bulk' edits or imports where they do not examine individual features, then they should create and use new dedicated import accounts (e.g. <username>_<community>_import) for those changesets.