Kuwait Arterial Road Surface and Passability Data (2020–2024)

AI-derived surface, width, and passability metrics for 4,900 km of arterial roads in Kuwait, produced by HeiGIT using 2020 and 2024 PlanetScope satellite imagery. It covers motorways, trunks, primary, and secondary roads, integrating OpenStreetMap attributes with deep-learning predictions to fill data gaps. The analysis includes a specific Humanitarian Passability Index (HPI) to assess logistical accessibility.

Use Cases

• Logistics planning for heavy vehicles using 'Road Width Class' to identify alternating flow or blockage risks
• Monitoring national infrastructure development by tracking 'Road Surface Change' from unpaved to paved
• Emergency response routing using the 'Humanitarian Passability Index (HPI)' to prioritize accessible corridors

Strengths

• AI surface model achieved 89.2% accuracy, significantly higher than the 64.7% accuracy of existing OSM surface tags
• Provides surface data for 31.7% of Kuwaiti arterial roads that lack tags in OpenStreetMap
• Multi-temporal coverage (2020 and 2024) enables infrastructure change detection

Limitations

• Geographic scope is limited to arterial roads, excluding residential and local street networks
• AI-derived predictions are subject to satellite imagery resolution constraints
• Summary statistics indicate 0.0 km of unpaved roads detected, which may reflect a lack of class diversity in this specific region

Provenance

Source

Heidelberg Institute for Geoinformation Technology (HeiGIT)

Collection Method

Deep learning analysis of PlanetScope satellite imagery integrated with OpenStreetMap vector data

Time Range

2020-2024

Freshness

Last updated March 2026; contains satellite-derived data from 2020 and 2024.

Geography

Kuwait