Syrian Arab Republic Road Surface Data with AI-Derived Paved and Unpaved Classifications

A 2026 dataset from HeiGIT provides detailed road surface information for the Syrian Arab Republic, derived from OpenStreetMap and augmented with deep learning predictions from Mapillary imagery. It covers approximately 194,700 km of roads, with AI-derived estimates classifying 2.69% as paved and 4.61% as unpaved. The data is intended for transportation planning, infrastructure analysis, and climate emissions assessment.

Use Cases

• Transportation planning based on road surface type classifications (paved/unpaved).
• Infrastructure analysis using attributes like highway type, width, lanes, and bridge status.
• Climate emissions assessment based on road surface smoothness and type.
• GIS applications for urban/rural classification using the urban attribute.
• Humanitarian access analysis based on road network completeness and surface quality.

Strengths

• Includes AI-derived surface classifications for roads where OpenStreetMap data is missing.
• Integrates multiple data sources: OpenStreetMap, Mapillary imagery, GHSU, and AFRICAPOLIS urban layers.
• Provides specific statistics on road coverage, including 92.7% missing surface data in OSM and the AI's contribution to fill this gap.

Limitations

• A significant portion (92.7%) of road surface information is missing from the underlying OpenStreetMap source.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Heidelberg Institute for Geoinformation Technology (HeiGIT)

Collection Method

Data originates from OpenStreetMap (OSM) and is augmented with deep learning predictions based on Mapillary street-level imagery, combined with GHSU and AFRICAPOLIS urban layers.

Time Range

The mean timestamp of predictions used is recorded in the DL_mean_timestamp field.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-02 17:00:42.019447; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Syrian Arab Republic