Global Human Settlement Layer
GHSL provides analysis ready, global, geospatial data reporting about the presence of population and human settlements
Website: https://ghsl.jrc.ec.europa.eu
Type of Digital Public Good
- Open content
- ✅ Open data
- Open software
- Open standard
- Open AI model
1. Is it relevant to one of the Sustainable Development Goals?
- 1. No Poverty
Evidence: There are a number of SDG indicators that require an urban-rural disaggregation, for example SDG 1.1.1. The GHSL data were used to develop the Degree of Urbanisation method to delineate cities, urban and rural areas. The UN Statistical Commission endorsed thin in 2020 for international comparison including the SDGs
- 2. Zero Hunger
Evidence: There are a number of SDG indicators that require an urban-rural disaggregation, for example SDG 2.4.1 The GHSL data were used to develop the Degree of Urbanisation method to delineate cities, urban and rural areas. The UN Statistical Commission endorsed thin in 2020 for international comparison including the SDGs.
- 3. Good Health and Well-being
Evidence: There are a number of SDG indicators that require an urban-rural disaggregation, for example SDG 3.3.1. The GHSL data were used to develop the Degree of Urbanisation method to delineate cities, urban and rural areas. The UN Statistical Commission endorsed thin in 2020 for international comparison including the SDGs
- 4. Quality Education
Evidence: There are a number of SDG indicators that require an urban-rural disaggregation, for example SDG 4.5.1. The GHSL data were used to develop the Degree of Urbanisation method to delineate cities, urban and rural areas. The UN Statistical Commission endorsed thin in 2020 for international comparison including the SDGs
- 6. Clean Water and Sanitation
Evidence: In this article, the GHSL population data were used to assess the number of people with access to water.
Link to Evidence: https://ucl.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000026
- 7. Affordable and Clean Energy
Evidence: The GHSL data on population and settlements can be used to assess the number of people with access to electricity disaggregated by urban and rural share
Link to Evidence: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2021.111282
- 9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Evidence: The GHSL data on population and settlements can measure the rural population with access to an all weather road
Link to Evidence: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/tgis.12721
- 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
Evidence: GHSL data allow calculating directly the SDG 11.3.1 (land use efficiency). The data are also used for generating information on SDG 11.6.2 (air quality in cities) and SDG 11.7.1 (urban green)
Link to Evidence: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su11205674
2. Does it use an appropriate open license?
Yes, this project is licensed under the following license(s):
3. Is ownership clearly defined?
Is the ownership of the project and everything that the project produces clearly defined and documented?
Yes
If yes - please link to the relevant copyright, trademarks, or ownership documentation for the project.
4. Does the license of libraries/dependencies undermine the openess of the project?
Does this open project have mandatory dependencies (i.e. libraries, hardware) that create more restrictions than the original license?
No
If yes - are the open source components able to demonstrate independence from the closed component(s) and/or are there functional, open alternatives?
Not Applicable
If yes - please describe how the open source components are independent and/or list the open alternatives for the closed component:
Not Applicable
5. Is there documentation?
Does some documentation exist of the source code, use cases, and/or functional requirements. For software projects, this should be present as technical documentation that would allow a technical person unfamiliar with the project to launch and run the software. For datasets and data projects, this should be present as documentation that describes all the fields in the set, and provides context on how the data was collected and how it should be interpreted. For content collections, this should indicate any relevant compatible apps, software, hardware required to access the content and any instructions about how to use it.
Yes
If yes - please link to the relevant documentation:
6. Is non PII data and/or content accessible?
Does this project collect or use non-personally identifiable information (non-PII) data and/or content?
No
If yes - is there a mechanism for extracting or importing non-personally identifiable information (non-PII) from the system in a non-proprietary format?
Not Applicable
If yes - describe the mechanism for extracting or importing non-personally identifiable information from the system in a non-proprietary format:
Not Applicable
7. Does the project adhere to privacy and other applicable international and domestic laws?
Has this project taken steps to ensure adherence with relevant privacy, domestic, and international laws? For example, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union or the Supplementary Act A/SA.1/01/10 on Personal Data Protection for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) (yes/no)
Yes
If yes, please list some of relevant laws that the project complies with:
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union
If yes, please describe the steps this project has taken to ensure adherence (include links to terms of service, privacy policy, or other relevant documentation):
8. Does the project adhere to standards and best practices?
Does this project support standards? (i.e. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 or other standards such as those listed on W3C)
Yes
Which standards does this project support (please list)
- TIFF for raster data or SHP for vector data and CSV for spreadsheet data
Can you point to evidence of your support? (i.e. please link to your validator, open test suite, etc.)
Was this project built and developed according to or in adherence with any design, technical and/or sector best practices or principles? i.e. the Principles for Digital Development?
Yes
Which principles and best practices does this project support (please list)
- The GHSL data are following the FAIR data principles:
- - They are findable, each of the data sets is linked to a DOI and comes with a standardised data set description in the JRC data catalogue (see GHSL data collection in the catalogue: https://data.jrc.ec.europa.eu/collection/ghsl)
- - They are accessible, because not registration whatsoever is needed to access the data.
- - They are interoperable, because they use open data exchange formats like TIFF for raster data or SHP for vector data and CSV for spreadsheet data.
- - They are reusable, because the licensing allows for wide reusability
9. Does the project do no harm by design?
Has this project taken steps to anticipate, prevent and do no harm by design?
On the whole, does this project take steps to ensure that it anticipates, prevents and does no harm by design?
Yes
Is there any additional information you would like to share about the mechanisms, processes or policies that this project uses to avoid doing harm by design?
The GHSL data come with a detailed data description (see latest data package description: https://ghsl.jrc.ec.europa.eu/documents/GHSL_Data_Package_2022.pdf?t=1655995832).
9.a. Data Privacy & Security
Does this project collect or store personally identifiable information (PII) data and/or content?
No
If yes - please list the types of data and/or content collected and/or stored by the project:
Not Applicable
If yes - does this project share this data and/or content with third parties?
No
Please describe the circumstances with which this project shares data and/or content with third parties. Please add links as relevant.
Not Applicable
If yes - does the project ensure the privacy, security and integrity of this data and/or content collection and has it taken steps to prevent adverse impacts resulting from its collection, storage and distribution.
Yes
If yes - please describe the steps, and include a link to the privacy policy and/or terms of service:
9.b. Inappropriate & Illegal Content
Does this project collect, store or distribute content?
No
If yes - what kinds of content does this project, collect, store or distribute? (i.e. childrens books)
Not Applicable
If yes - does this project have policies that describe what is considered innappropriate content? (i.e. child sexual abuse materials)
Not Applicable
If yes - please link to the relevant policy/guidelines/documentation.
Not Applicable
If yes - does this project have policies and processes for detecting and moderating innappropriate/illegal content?
Not Applicable
If yes - please describe the policies and processes for detecting, reporting and removing innapropriate/illegal content (Please include the average response time for assessment and/or action. Link to any policies or descriptions of how inappropriate content is handled):
Not Applicable
9.c. Protection from harassment
Does this project facilitate interactions with or between users or contributors?
No
If yes - does the project take steps to address the safety and security of underage users?
Not Applicable
If yes - please describe the steps this project takes to address risk or prevent access by underage users:
Not Applicable
If yes - does the project help users and contributors protect themselves against grief, abuse, and harassment?
Not Applicable
If yes - please describe the steps taken to help users protect themselves.
Not Applicable
Development & deployment countries
List of countries this project was developed in.
- Italy
List of countries this project is actively deployed in.
Not Applicable