Belgium Arterial Road Surface, Width, and Passability (2020-2024)

This dataset maps 20,300 km of arterial roads in Belgium, providing AI-derived surface types, widths, and passability scores produced by HeiGIT. It utilizes PlanetScope satellite imagery from 2020 and 2024 to classify motorways, trunks, and primary/secondary roads.

Use Cases

• Identifying logistical bottlenecks for heavy transport using 'Road Width Class'
• Monitoring national infrastructure improvement via 'Road Surface Change' indicators
• Prioritizing humanitarian access routes using the 'Humanitarian Passability Index'

Strengths

• 89.2% surface classification accuracy
• Fills data gaps for 41.3% of roads missing OSM surface tags
• Multi-temporal coverage for 2020 and 2024 allows for change detection

Limitations

• Restricted to arterial road classes only
• Binary surface classification (paved/unpaved) lacks specific material details like asphalt or cobblestone

Provenance

Source

HeiGIT (Heidelberg Institute for Geoinformation Technology)

Collection Method

Deep learning models applied to PlanetScope satellite imagery integrated with OpenStreetMap data

Time Range

2020-2024

Freshness

Contains imagery-derived data from 2020 and 2024; last updated in March 2026.

Geography

Belgium