Global Human Footprint Map for 2009 at 1 km Resolution

Last of the Wild Project Version 3 provides a 2009 global map of cumulative human pressure on the environment at approximately 1 km spatial resolution. The dataset measures pressure using eight variables including built-up environments, population density, and infrastructure. It was produced by Venter et al. and released by ESDIS in 2018.

Use Cases

• Modeling the relationship between built-up environments and pasture lands to assess urbanization's impact on agricultural areas.
• Analyzing the spatial correlation between electric power infrastructure and population density for infrastructure planning.
• Identifying wilderness areas by creating masks where cumulative pressure from roads, railways, and navigable waterways is below a defined threshold.
• Training a model to predict future human footprint by using the 2009 pressure map as a baseline label alongside temporal driver variables.

Strengths

• Global spatial coverage provides a complete planetary view.
• Integrates eight distinct human pressure variables into a single composite measure.
• Data is provided at a consistent ~1 km spatial resolution.

Limitations

• Data represents a single snapshot from 2009 and may not reflect current conditions.
• The ~1 km resolution may be too coarse for local or regional-scale analysis.
• Specific accuracy metrics or validation details for the eight input variables are not provided in the description.

Provenance

Source

ESDIS (Earth Science Data and Information System), NASA.

Collection Method

Produced by Venter et al. by integrating and modeling eight global spatial data layers representing human pressures.

Time Range

2009

Freshness

2009-12-31

Geography

Global