Switzerland Arterial Road Surface and Passability: 14,600 km Mapped

HeiGIT mapped 14,600 km of arterial roads in Switzerland using PlanetScope satellite imagery from 2020 and 2024. The records include AI-derived classifications for road surface, width, and a Humanitarian Passability Index (HPI) to assess logistical accessibility.

Use Cases

• Assessing vehicle accessibility using the 'Humanitarian Passability Index (HPI)'
• Identifying infrastructure upgrades via the 'Road Surface Change' indicator
• Supplementing missing 'surface' tags in OSM with 'DL Surface Prediction' values

Strengths

• 89.2% surface model accuracy
• 14,600 km of road coverage
• Multi-temporal surface change detection (2020-2024)
• Standardized width classes (Class 1-3) for logistics

Limitations

• Geographic scope limited to arterial road classes
• AI-derived predictions may have errors compared to physical ground surveys

Provenance

Source

HeiGIT (Heidelberg Institute for Geoinformation Technology)

Collection Method

Deep learning analysis of PlanetScope satellite imagery combined with OpenStreetMap data.

Time Range

2020 - 2024

Freshness

Last updated March 2026; contains imagery-based analysis from 2020 and 2024.

Geography

Switzerland