Introduction

Bing Maps is releasing open building footprints around the world. We have detected 856M buildings from Bing Maps imagery between 2014 and 2021 including Maxar and Airbus imagery. The data is freely available for download and use under ODbL. This dataset complements our other releases.

Regions included

You can download the layer above as GeoJSON here.

License

This data is licensed by Microsoft under the Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL).

Updates

• 2022-07-08 - Added 78M buildings in Western EU Countries from Maxar imagery between 2014 and 2021 bringing the total structure count to 856M. Added link to download buildings coverage.
• 2022-07-05 - The complete building footprints dataset is available on Microsoft's Planetary Computer

FAQ

What does the data include?

855,652,826 building footprint polygon geometries located around the world in line delimited GeoJSON format.

Location	Count	Link	Size (Compressed)
Abyei	171	Abyei.zip	12.3KB
Afghanistan	6,588,191	Afghanistan.zip	511.6MB
Africa	4,631	Africa.zip	383.3KB
Albania	1,180,677	Albania.zip	87.1MB
Algeria	6,854,110	Algeria.zip	576.3MB
Andorra	8,605	Andorra.zip	837.0KB
Angola	4,845,154	Angola.zip	331.7MB
Anguilla	9,273	Anguilla.zip	733.5KB
Antigua and Barbuda	45,997	Antigua and Barbuda.zip	3.3MB
Argentina	6,751,335	Argentina.zip	543.9MB
Armenia	938,929	Armenia.zip	73.4MB
Aruba	65,361	Aruba.zip	4.8MB
Asia	38,521	Asia.zip	2.8MB
Austria	3,804,289	Austria.zip	334.8MB
Azerbaijan	2,096,023	Azerbaijan.zip	152.9MB
Bahrain	197,877	Bahrain.zip	18.5MB
Bangladesh	15,186,144	Bangladesh.zip	1.0GB
Barbados	147,195	Barbados.zip	10.8MB
Belarus	6,680,004	Belarus.zip	500.5MB
Belgium	4,445,133	Belgium.zip	392.9MB
Belize	143,087	Belize.zip	9.8MB
Benin	1,785,978	Benin.zip	123.7MB
Bhutan	122,682	Bhutan.zip	8.4MB
Bolivia	3,017,298	Bolivia.zip	215.8MB
Bonaire	14,315	Bonaire.zip	1.0MB
Bosnia and Herzegovina	2,391,531	Bosnia and Herzegovina.zip	169.5MB
Botswana	1,180,475	Botswana.zip	80.5MB
Brazil	59,513,459	Brazil.zip	4.4GB
British Indian Ocean Territory	928	British Indian Ocean Territory.zip	72.3KB
British Virgin Islands	10,298	British Virgin Islands.zip	774.9KB
Bulgaria	4,033,011	Bulgaria.zip	303.4MB
Burkina Faso	2,076,120	Burkina Faso.zip	142.7MB
Burundi	1,932,454	Burundi.zip	132.3MB
Cambodia	3,874,208	Cambodia.zip	264.6MB
Cameroon	2,221,618	Cameroon.zip	155.3MB
Cayman Islands	22,655	Cayman Islands.zip	1.8MB
Central African Republic	379,478	Central African Republic.zip	25.1MB
Chad	1,136,146	Chad.zip	78.4MB
Chile	6,210,325	Chile.zip	474.7MB
Colombia	7,169,856	Colombia.zip	551.8MB
Comoros	119,701	Comoros.zip	8.1MB
Congo (DRC)	7,713,400	Congo (DRC).zip	516.7MB
Costa Rica	1,461,644	Costa Rica.zip	111.6MB
Croatia	2,834,874	Croatia.zip	216.5MB
Cuba	2,860,000	Cuba.zip	199.2MB
Curacao	103,745	Curacao.zip	7.7MB
Cyprus	743,709	Cyprus.zip	59.0MB
Czech Republic	2,367,402	Czech Republic.zip	199.8MB
Czechia	2,585,333	Czechia.zip	208.8MB
Denmark	3,264,995	Denmark.zip	299.4MB
Djibouti	22,718	Djibouti.zip	1.6MB
Dominica	31,942	Dominica.zip	2.2MB
Dominican Republic	2,228,536	Dominican Republic.zip	155.8MB
Ecuador	4,329,641	Ecuador.zip	321.7MB
Egypt	11,864,145	Egypt.zip	1.0GB
El Salvador	1,111,558	El Salvador.zip	83.0MB
Equatorial Guinea	178,597	Equatorial Guinea.zip	12.9MB
Eritrea	262,569	Eritrea.zip	18.3MB
Estonia	737,110	Estonia.zip	58.1MB
Ethiopia	4,126,913	Ethiopia.zip	285.2MB
Europe	12,216	Europe.zip	1004.8KB
FYRO Makedonija	774,962	FYRO Makedonija.zip	57.2MB
Faroe Islands	30,004	Faroe Islands.zip	2.6MB
Finland	4,598,752	Finland.zip	387.6MB
France	23,396,212	France.zip	2.1GB
French Guiana	69,716	French Guiana.zip	5.2MB
French-Guadeloupe	216,903	French-Guadeloupe.zip	15.8MB
French-Martinique	176,510	French-Martinique.zip	12.9MB
Gabon	359,032	Gabon.zip	26.5MB
Gaza Strip	268,186	Gaza Strip.zip	20.7MB
Georgia	1,090,394	Georgia.zip	78.1MB
Germany	28,177,869	Germany.zip	2.6GB
Ghana	4,728,049	Ghana.zip	351.2MB
Golan Heights	20,919	Golan Heights.zip	1.7MB
Greece	5,766,786	Greece.zip	448.4MB
Grenada	50,583	Grenada.zip	3.5MB
Guatemala	2,585,837	Guatemala.zip	185.9MB
Guinea-Bissau	293,103	Guinea-Bissau.zip	20.4MB
Guinea	1,588,864	Guinea.zip	108.4MB
Guyana	253,146	Guyana.zip	17.5MB
Haiti	1,564,132	Haiti.zip	104.1MB
Honduras	702,846	Honduras.zip	49.2MB
Hungary	5,689,493	Hungary.zip	437.6MB
Iceland	199,077	Iceland.zip	18.3MB
India	83,950,819	India.zip	6.3GB
Iran	7,290,330	Iran.zip	605.0MB
Iraq	8,188,203	Iraq.zip	663.1MB
Ireland	2,335,404	Ireland.zip	193.8MB
Isle of Man	40,823	Isle of Man.zip	3.7MB
Israel	1,360,355	Israel.zip	116.4MB
Italy	12,007,582	Italy.zip	1.0GB
Ivory Coast	3,128,370	Ivory Coast.zip	218.1MB
Jamaica	900,778	Jamaica.zip	62.9MB
Jordan	1,158,539	Jordan.zip	98.5MB
Kazakhstan	7,202,364	Kazakhstan.zip	551.2MB
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia	5,919,197	Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.zip	486.5MB
Kosovo	737,451	Kosovo.zip	54.5MB
Kuwait	48,917	Kuwait.zip	3.7MB
Kyrgyzstan	2,219,078	Kyrgyzstan.zip	166.8MB
Laos	1,698,185	Laos.zip	117.2MB
Lapthal	22	Lapthal.zip	1.8KB
Latvia	1,232,238	Latvia.zip	97.1MB
Lebanon	1,013,451	Lebanon.zip	85.4MB
Lesotho	808,152	Lesotho.zip	54.4MB
Liberia	459,196	Liberia.zip	32.5MB
Libya	2,117,880	Libya.zip	171.2MB
Lithuania	2,161,065	Lithuania.zip	170.8MB
Luxembourg	156,171	Luxembourg.zip	14.8MB
Madagascar	3,858,230	Madagascar.zip	250.8MB
Malawi	4,550,131	Malawi.zip	294.8MB
Maldives	46,503	Maldives.zip	3.5MB
Mali	1,833,915	Mali.zip	121.7MB
Malta	74,823	Malta.zip	8.1MB
Mauritania	820,230	Mauritania.zip	56.1MB
Mauritius	310,055	Mauritius.zip	25.2MB
Mayotte	58,174	Mayotte.zip	4.1MB
Mexico	23,765,721	Mexico.zip	1.8GB
Moldova	2,232,210	Moldova.zip	169.1MB
Mongolia	441,496	Mongolia.zip	31.4MB
Montenegro	369,178	Montenegro.zip	26.3MB
Montserrat	3,989	Montserrat.zip	303.7KB
Morocco	3,176,667	Morocco.zip	268.4MB
Mozambique	7,663,943	Mozambique.zip	498.4MB
Myanmar	9,509,715	Myanmar.zip	633.5MB
Namibia	842,206	Namibia.zip	59.1MB
Nepal	6,349,307	Nepal.zip	433.6MB
Netherlands	3,539,902	Netherlands.zip	328.3MB
Nicaragua	783,377	Nicaragua.zip	56.7MB
Niger	1,768,697	Niger.zip	118.2MB
North America	3,250	North America.zip	252.0KB
North Korea	39,129	North Korea.zip	3.0MB
Norway	3,771,466	Norway.zip	326.9MB
Pa-li-chia-ssu	234	Pa-li-chia-ssu.zip	16.6KB
Pakistan	19,399,807	Pakistan.zip	1.5GB
Panama	1,127,611	Panama.zip	80.9MB
Paracel Islands	347	Paracel Islands.zip	29.7KB
Paraguay	2,382,243	Paraguay.zip	169.6MB
Peru	7,470,993	Peru.zip	550.4MB
Poland	17,931,193	Poland.zip	1.4GB
Portugal	5,875,178	Portugal.zip	475.3MB
Puerto Rico	1,456,268	Puerto Rico.zip	105.6MB
Republic of Yemen	3,048,460	Republic of Yemen.zip	222.2MB
Republic of the Congo	212,365	Republic of the Congo.zip	14.6MB
Reunion	349,450	Reunion.zip	26.9MB
Romania	12,345,591	Romania.zip	929.6MB
Russia	65,592,760	Russia.zip	4.9GB
Rwanda	2,937,226	Rwanda.zip	202.2MB
Saint Barthelemy	6,742	Saint Barthelemy.zip	522.0KB
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha	4,196	Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.zip	311.3KB
Saint Lucia	75,099	Saint Lucia.zip	5.2MB
San Marino	7,728	San Marino.zip	691.9KB
Sang	129	Sang.zip	9.1KB
Senegal	1,848,802	Senegal.zip	132.5MB
Serbia	4,751,385	Serbia.zip	358.2MB
Seychelles	38,345	Seychelles.zip	2.8MB
Sierra Leone	514,685	Sierra Leone.zip	35.7MB
Slovakia	2,515,328	Slovakia.zip	200.2MB
Slovenia	1,126,167	Slovenia.zip	90.6MB
Somalia	50,419	Somalia.zip	3.6MB
South Africa	22,954,325	South Africa.zip	1.6GB
South America	46	South America.zip	3.5KB
South Sudan	120,553	South Sudan.zip	8.0MB
Spain	2,857,746	Spain.zip	257.0MB
Sri Lanka	3,162,836	Sri Lanka.zip	220.9MB
St Kitts and Nevis	27,786	St Kitts and Nevis.zip	2.0MB
St Martin	9,747	St Martin.zip	783.9KB
St Vincent and the Grenadines	47,587	St Vincent and the Grenadines.zip	3.3MB
State of Qatar	507,224	State of Qatar.zip	41.1MB
Sudan	2,851,260	Sudan.zip	199.2MB
Sultanate of Oman	393,799	Sultanate of Oman.zip	32.2MB
Suriname	244,018	Suriname.zip	17.6MB
Swaziland	636,538	Swaziland.zip	43.6MB
Sweden	6,449,888	Sweden.zip	541.0MB
Switzerland	292,095	Switzerland.zip	27.1MB
Syria	4,432,148	Syria.zip	354.2MB
São Tomé and Príncipe	35,084	São Tomé and Príncipe.zip	2.5MB
Tajikistan	2,006,822	Tajikistan.zip	151.5MB
Tanzania	685,763	Tanzania.zip	45.3MB
Thailand	24,503,490	Thailand.zip	1.7GB
The Bahamas	129,246	The Bahamas.zip	9.9MB
The Gambia	349,894	The Gambia.zip	24.3MB
Togo	1,440,071	Togo.zip	102.5MB
Trinidad and Tobago	495,217	Trinidad and Tobago.zip	36.0MB
Tunisia	3,411,631	Tunisia.zip	299.5MB
Turkey	18,058,257	Turkey.zip	1.4GB
Turkmenistan	1,472,716	Turkmenistan.zip	112.0MB
Turks and Caicos Islands	15,713	Turks and Caicos Islands.zip	1.2MB
US Virgin Islands	50,266	US Virgin Islands.zip	3.8MB
Uganda	773,722	Uganda.zip	53.0MB
Ukraine	26,771,785	Ukraine.zip	1.9GB
United Arab Emirates	940,322	United Arab Emirates.zip	82.1MB
United Kingdom	18,240,684	United Kingdom.zip	1.6GB
Uruguay	1,150,564	Uruguay.zip	87.1MB
Uzbekistan	6,511,858	Uzbekistan.zip	524.1MB
Vatican City	91	Vatican City.zip	11.6KB
Venezuela	8,095,813	Venezuela.zip	587.8MB
Vietnam	23,866,366	Vietnam.zip	1.7GB
West Bank	664,890	West Bank.zip	54.9MB
Western Halaib Triangle	156	Western Halaib Triangle.zip	11.2KB
Zambia	4,072,766	Zambia.zip	274.4MB
Zimbabwe	5,205,824	Zimbabwe.zip	347.3MB
Île Saint-Martin	14,919	Île Saint-Martin.zip	1.1MB

What is the GeoJSON format?

GeoJSON is a format for encoding a variety of geographic data structures. For intensive documentation and tutorials, refer to this blog.

Why is the data being released?

Microsoft has a continued interest in supporting a thriving OpenStreetMap ecosystem.

Should we import the data into OpenStreetMap?

Maybe. Never overwrite the hard work of other contributors or blindly import data into OSM without first checking the local quality. While our metrics show that this data meets or exceeds the quality of hand-drawn building footprints, the data does vary in quality from place to place, between rural and urban, mountains and plains, and so on. Inspect quality locally and discuss an import plan with the community. Always follow the OSM import community guidelines.

Will the data be used or made available in the larger OpenStreetMap ecosystem?

Yes. The HOT Tasking Manager has integrated Facebook RapiD where the data has been made available.

How did we create the data?

The building extraction is done in two stages:

1. Semantic Segmentation – Recognizing building pixels on an aerial image using deep neural networks (DNNs)
2. Polygonization – Converting building pixel detections into polygons

Stage1: Semantic Segmentation

Stage 2: Polygonization

Were there any modeling improvements used for this release?

We did not apply any modeling improvements for this release. Instead, we focused on scaling our approach to increase coverage, and trained models regionally.

Evaluation set metrics

The evaluation metrics are computed on a set of building polygon labels for each region. Note, we only have verification results for Mexico buildings since we did not train a model for the country.

Building match metrics on the evaluation set:

Region	Precision	Recall
Africa	94.4%	70.9%
Caribbean	92.2%	76.8%
Central Asia	97.17%	79.47%
Europe	94.3%	85.9%
Middle East	95.7%	85.4%
South America	95.4%	78.0%
South Asia	94.8%	76.7%

We track the following metrics to measure the quality of matched building polygons in the evaluation set:

1. Intersection over Union – This is a standard metric measuring the overlap quality against the labels
2. Dominant angle rotation error – This measures the polygon rotation deviation

Region	IoU	Rotation error [deg]
Africa	64.5%	5.67
Caribbean	64.0%	6.64
Central Asia	68.2%	6.91
Europe	65.1%	10.28
Middle East	65.1%	9.3
South America	66.7%	6.34
South Asia	63.1%	6.25

False positive ratio in the corpus

False positives are estimated per country from randomly sampled building polygon predictions.

Region	Buildings Sampled	False Positive Rate
Africa	5,000	1.1%
Caribbean	3,000	1.8%
Central Asia	3,000	2.2%
Europe	5,000	1.4%
Mexico	2,000	0.1%
Middle East	7,000	1.8%
South America	5,000	1.7%
South Asia	7,000	1.4%

What is the vintage of this data?

Vintage of extracted building footprints depends on the vintage of the underlying imagery. The underlying imagery is from Bing Maps including Maxar and Airbus between 2014 and 2021.

How good is the data?

Our metrics show that in the vast majority of cases the quality is at least as good as hand digitized buildings in OpenStreetMap. It is not perfect, particularly in dense urban areas but it provides good recall in rural areas.

What is the coordinate reference system?

EPSG: 4326

Will there be more data coming for other geographies?

Maybe. This is a work in progress. Also, check out our other building releases!

• US
• Australia
• Canada
• Uganda and Tanzania
• South America
• Kenya and Nigeria
• Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines

Why are some locations missing?

We excluded imagery from processing if tiles were dated before 2014 or there was a low-probability of detection. Detection probability is loosely defined here as proximity to roads and population centers. This filtering and tile exclusion results in squares of missing data.

How can I read large files?

Some files are very large but they are stored in line-delimited format so one could use parallel processing tools (e.g., Spark, Dask) or create a memory efficient script to segment into smaller pieces. See scripts/read-large-files.py for a Python example.

Contributing

This project welcomes contributions and suggestions. Most contributions require you to agree to a Contributor License Agreement (CLA) declaring that you have the right to, and actually do, grant us the rights to use your contribution. For details, visit https://cla.microsoft.com.

When you submit a pull request, a CLA-bot will automatically determine whether you need to provide a CLA and decorate the PR appropriately (e.g., label, comment). Simply follow the instructions provided by the bot. You will only need to do this once across all repos using our CLA.

This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact opencode@microsoft.com with any additional questions or comments.

Legal Notices

Microsoft, Windows, Microsoft Azure and/or other Microsoft products and services referenced in the documentation may be either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft in the United States and/or other countries. The licenses for this project do not grant you rights to use any Microsoft names, logos, or trademarks. Microsoft's general trademark guidelines can be found here.

Privacy information can be found here.

Microsoft and any contributors reserve all others rights, whether under their respective copyrights, patents, or trademarks, whether by implication, estoppel or otherwise.