Swiss Building Footprints from OpenStreetMap for Urban Analysis

OpenStreetMap exports contain every feature tagged as a building across Switzerland, from residential homes to hospitals and schools. The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) provides this data on HDX in multiple geospatial formats. The dataset was last updated on 2026-05-14.

Use Cases

• Estimate population distribution based on building density and type.
• Assess disaster damage by comparing pre- and post-event building footprints.
• Plan urban infrastructure and services using building location and classification data.

Strengths

• Includes every OpenStreetMap feature tagged as a building (`building=*`), suggesting broad coverage.
• Available in multiple geospatial formats (GEOPACKAGE, SHP, JSON) for flexibility.
• Provided by the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT), a recognized organization in the mapping community.

Limitations

• Completeness varies by region; urban areas are usually well-mapped, remote areas may be incomplete.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

OpenStreetMap

Collection Method

Volunteer-contributed mapping via the OpenStreetMap platform.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-14 01:47:29.302157; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Switzerland