Building Footprints Across Congo from OpenStreetMap

OpenStreetMap-derived building footprints across the Congo region, tagged for residential, commercial, and institutional uses. The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) provides this data in multiple geospatial formats, last updated in June 2026. Coverage reflects volunteer mapper activity, with urban areas typically well-represented and remote areas potentially sparse.

Use Cases

• Estimate population distribution based on building density and type.
• Assess damage after natural disasters by comparing building footprints over time.
• Plan urban infrastructure and services using the spatial distribution of residential and institutional buildings.
• Cross-reference local field knowledge for critical decision-making in humanitarian contexts.

Strengths

• Includes multiple building types, from homes to hospitals, schools, and places of worship.
• Available in four common geospatial formats: GEOPACKAGE, SHP, JSON, and HTML.
• Data is provided under the open ODbL-1.0 license.

Limitations

• Coverage is uneven, reflecting volunteer mapper activity; remote areas may be sparse.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Freshness should be verified as the last update timestamp is from June 2026.

Provenance

Source

OpenStreetMap, a free, collaborative world map.

Collection Method

Volunteer mapping contributions aggregated by the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-27 02:19:53.047547

Geography

Congo region.