The Bing Maps team at Microsoft released a U.S.-wide vector building dataset in 2018, which includes over 125 million building footprints for all 50 states in GeoJSON format. This dataset is extracted from aerial images using deep learning object classification methods. Large-extent modelling (e.g., urban morphological analysis or ecosystem assessment models) or accuracy assessment with vector layers is highly challenging in practice. Although vector layers provide accurate geometries, their use in large-extent geospatial analysis comes at a high computational cost. We used High Performance Computing (HPC) to develop an algorithm that calculates six summary values for each cell in a raster representation of each U.S. state: (1) total footprint coverage, (2) number of unique buildings intersecting each cell, (3) number of building centroids falling inside each cell, and area of the (4) average, (5) smallest, and (6) largest area of buildings that intersect each cell. These values a ...

Data and description below is from the Scientific Data paper: A rasterized building footprint dataset for the United States authored by Mehdi P. Heris, Nathan Leon Foks, Kenneth J. Bagstad, Austin Troy & Zachary H. Ancona

Abstract

Microsoft released a U.S.-wide vector building dataset in 2018. Although the vector building layers provide relatively accurate geometries, their use in large-extent geospatial analysis comes at a high computational cost. We used High-Performance Computing (HPC) to develop an algorithm that calculates six summary values for each cell in a raster representation of each U.S. state, excluding Alaska and Hawaii: (1) total footprint coverage, (2) number of unique buildings intersecting each cell, (3) number of building centroids falling inside each cell, and area of the (4) average, (5) smallest, and (6) largest area of buildings that intersect each cell. These values are represented as raster layers with 30 m cell size covering the 48 conterminous states. We also identify errors in the original building dataset. We evaluate precision and recall in the data for three large U.S. urban areas. Precision is high and comparable to results reported by Microsoft while recall is high for buildings with footprints larger than 200 m2 but lower for progressively smaller buildings.

Background and Summary

Building footprints are a critical environmental descriptor. Microsoft produced a U.S.-wide vector building dataset in 20181 that was generated from aerial images available to Bing Maps using deep learning methods for object classification2. The main goal of this product has been to increase the coverage of building footprints available for OpenStreetMap. Microsoft identified building footprints in two phases; first, using semantic segmentation to identify building pixels from aerial imagery using Deep Neural Networks and second, converting building pixel blobs into polygons. The final dataset includes 125,192,184 building footprint polygon geometries in GeoJSON vector format, covering all 50 U.S. States, with data for each state distributed separately. These data have 99.3% precision and 93.5% pixel recall accuracy2. Temporal resolution of the data (i.e., years of the aerial imagery used to derive the data) are not provided by Microsoft in the metadata.

Using vector layers for large-extent (i.e., national or state-level) spatial analysis and modelling (e.g., mapping the Wildland-Urban Interface, flood and coastal hazards, or large-extent urban typology modelling) is challenging in practice. Although vector data provide accurate geometries, incorporating them in large-extent spatial analysis comes at a high computational cost. We used High Performance Computing (HPC) to develop an algorithm that calculates six summary statistics (described below) for buildings at 30-m cell size in the 48 conterminous U.S. states, to better support national-scale and multi-state modelling that requires building footprint data. To develop these six derived products from the Microsoft buildings dataset, we created an algorithm that took every single building and built a small meshgrid (a 2D array) for the bounding box of the building and calculated unique values for each cell of the meshgrid. This grid structure is aligned with National Land Cover Database (NLCD) products (projected using Albers Equal Area Conic system), enabling researchers to combine or compare our products with standard national-scale datasets such as land cover, tree canopy cover, and urban imperviousness3.

Locations, shapes, and distribution patterns of structures in urban and rural areas are the subject of many studies. Buildings represent the density of built up areas as an indicator of urban morphology or spatial structures of cities and metropolitan areas4,5. In local studies, the use of vector data types is easier6,7. However, in regional and national studies a raster dataset would be more preferable. For example in measuring the spatial structure of metropolitan areas a rasterized building layer would be more useful than the original vector datasets8.

Our output raster products are: (1) total building footprint coverage per cell (m2 of building footprint per 900 m2 cell); (2) number of buildings that intersect each cell; (3) number of building centroids falling within each cell; (4) area of the largest building intersecting each cell (m2); (5) area of the smallest building intersecting each cell (m2); and (6) average area of all buildings intersecting each cell (m2). The last three area metrics include building area that falls outside the cell but where part of the building intersects the cell (Fig. 1). These values can be used to describe the intensity and typology of the built environment.

Code

Our software is available through U.S. Geological Survey code r...

Microsoft recently released a free set of deep learning generated building footprints covering the United States of America. In support of this great work and to make these building footprints available to the ArcGIS community, Esri has consolidated the buildings into a single layer and shared them in ArcGIS Online. The footprints can be used for visualization using vector tile format or as hosted feature layer to do analysis. Learn more about the Microsoft Project at the Announcement Blog or the raw data is available at Github.

Microsoft Buildings Footprints with Heights from service: https://services.arcgis.com/P3ePLMYs2RVChkJx/arcgis/rest/services/MS_Buildings_Training_Data_with_Heights/FeatureServer (restrictions, do not use)Source: Approx. 9.8 million building footprints for portions of metro areas in 44 US States in Shapefile format.Microsoft recently released a free set of deep learning generated building footprints covering the United States of America. As part of that project Microsoft shared 8 million digitized building footprints with height information used for training the Deep Learning Algorithm. This map layer includes all buildings with height information for the original training set that can be used in scene viewer and ArcGIS pro to create simple 3D representations of buildings. Learn more about the Microsoft Project at the Announcement Blog or the raw data is available at Github.Click see Microsoft Building Layers in ArcGIS Online.Digitized building footprint by State and CityAlabamaGreater Phoenix City, Mobile, and MontgomeryArizonaTucsonArkansasLittle Rock with 5 buildings just across the river from MemphisCaliforniaBakersfield, Fresno, Modesto, Santa Barbara, Sacramento, Stockton, Calaveras County, San Fran & bay area south to San Jose and north to CloverdaleColoradoInterior of DenverConnecticutEnfield and Windsor LocksDelawareDoverFloridaTampa, Clearwater, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Daytona Beach, Jacksonville and GainesvilleGeorgiaColumbus, Atlanta, and AugustaIllinoisEast St. Louis, downtown area, Springfield, Champaign and UrbanaIndianaIndianapolis downtown and Jeffersonville downtownIowaDes MoinesKansasTopekaKentuckyLouisville downtown, Covington and NewportLouisianaShreveport, Baton Rouge and center of New OrleansMaineAugusta and PortlandMarylandBaltimoreMassachusettsBoston, South Attleboro, commercial area in Seekonk, and SpringfieldMichiganDowntown DetroitMinnesotaDowntown MinneapolisMississippiBiloxi and GulfportMissouriDowntown St. Louis, Jefferson City and SpringfieldNebraskaLincolnNevadaCarson City, Reno and Los VegasNew HampshireConcordNew JerseyCamden and downtown Jersey CityNew MexicoAlbuquerque and Santa FeNew YorkSyracuse and ManhattanNorth CarolinaGreensboro, Durham, and RaleighNorth DakotaBismarckOhioDowntown Cleveland, downtown Cincinnati, and downtown ColumbusOklahomaDowntown Tulsa and downtown Oklahoma CityOregonPortlandPennsylvaniaDowntown Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and PhiladelphiaRhode IslandThe greater Providence areaSouth CarolinaGreensville, downtown Augsta, greater Columbia area and greater Charleston areaSouth Dakotagreater Pierre areaTennesseeMemphis and NashvilleTexasLubbock, Longview, part of Fort Worth, Austin, downtown Houston, and Corpus ChristiUtahSalt Lake City downtownVirginiaRichmondWashingtonGreater Seattle area to Tacoma to the south and Marysville to the northWisconsinGreen Bay, downtown Milwaukee and MadisonWyomingCheyenne

NYS Building Footprints - metadata info:The New York State building footprints service contains building footprints with address information. The footprints have address point information folded in from the Streets and Address Matching (SAM - https://gis.ny.gov/streets/) address point file. The building footprints have a field called “Address Range”, this field shows (where available) either a single address or an address range, depending on the address points that fall within the footprint. Ex: 3860 Atlantic Avenue or Ex: 32 - 34 Wheatfield Circle Building footprints in New York State are from four different sources: Microsoft, Open Data, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), and Geospatial Services. The majority of the footprints are from NYSERDA, except in NYC where the primary source was Open Data. Microsoft footprints were added where the other 2 sources were missing polygons. Field Descriptions: NYSGeo Source : tells the end user if the source is NYSERDA, Microsoft, NYC Open Data, and could expand from here in the futureAddress Point Count: the number of address points that fall within that building footprintAddress Range : If an address point falls within a footprint it lists the range of those address points. Ex: if a building is on a corner of South Pearl and Beaver Street, 40 points fall on the building, and 35 are South Pearl Street it would give the range of addresses for South Pearl. We also removed sub addresses from this range, primarily apartment related. For example, in above example, it would not list 30 South Pearl, Apartment 5A, it would list 30 South Pearl.Most Common Street : the street name of the largest number of address points. In the above example, it would list “South Pearl” as the most common street since the majority of address points list it as the street. Other Streets: the list of other streets that fall within the building footprint, if any. In the above example, “Beaver Street” would be listed since address points for Beaver Street fall on the footprint but are not in the majority.County Name : County name populated from CIESINs. If not populated from CIESINs, identified by the GSMunicipality Name : Municipality name populated from CIESINs. If not populated from CIESINs, identified by the GSSource: Source where the data came from. If NYSGeo Source = NYSERDA, the data would typically list orthoimagery, LIDAR, county data, etc.Source ID: if NYSGeo Source = NYSERDA, Source ID would typically list an orthoimage or LIDAR tileSource Date: Date the footprint was created. If the source image was from 2016 orthoimagery, 2016 would be the Source Date. Description of each footprint source:NYSERDA Building footprints that were created as part of the New York State Flood Impact Decision Support Systems https://fidss.ciesin.columbia.edu/home Footprints vary in age from county to county.Microsoft Building Footprints released 6/28/2018 - vintage unknown/varies. More info on this dataset can be found at https://blogs.bing.com/maps/2018-06/microsoft-releases-125-million-building-footprints-in-the-us-as-open-data.NYC Open Data - Building Footprints of New York City as a polygon feature class. Last updated 7/30/2018, downloaded on 8/6/2018. Feature Class of footprint outlines of buildings in New York City. Please see the following link for additional documentation- https://github.com/CityOfNewYork/nyc-geo-metadata/blob/master/Metadata/Metadata_BuildingFootprints.mdSpatial Reference of Source Data: UTM Zone 18, meters, NAD 83. Spatial Reference of Web Service: Spatial Reference of Web Service: WGS 1984 Web Mercator Auxiliary Sphere.

The expansion of the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) highlights the critical need for precise mapping to improve wildfire risk management. A key challenge, however, is the scarcity of high-resolution, nationwide building footprint data. To bridge this gap, we developed a semi-automated, multi-criteria filtering framework designed to enhance the quality of open-source global building datasets—specifically Microsoft’s Global Building Footprints (MSB)—for mainland Portugal.

Our methodology combines regional adaptability with spatial analysis techniques, including area-based thresholds and proximity rules, using Portugal’s official Building Geographic Location Database (BGE) as a reference. To optimize residential representation, the framework iteratively removes non-residential outliers (e.g., industrial facilities, solar farms, transmission infrastructure) through dynamically adjusted thresholds applied across administrative levels (municipalities and NUTS-2 regions). As a result, the filtering process reduced the original dataset from approximately 5.6 million to 3.0 million building footprints.

This dataset provides WUI maps for Mainland Portugal, generated using Microsoft’s Global Building Footprints. The geodatabase include WUI maps, original building footprints, and filtered versions for analysis.

Our WUI maps are composed of 11 classes:

Classification of WUI types:

1 - Intermix

2 - Interface

Classification of building density in non-WUI areas:

3 - Very Low

4 - Low

5 - Medium

6 - High

Classification of Land Cover:

200 - Agriculture

300 - Forest

400 - Shrubland

500 - Without Vegetation

600 - Water

From: MS BuildingsMicrosoft recently released a free set of deep learning generated building footprints covering the United States of America. In support of this great work and to make these building footprints available to the ArcGIS community, Esri has consolidated the buildings into a single layer and shared them in ArcGIS Online. The footprints can be used for visualization using vector tile format or as hosted feature layer to do analysis. Learn more about the Microsoft Project at the Announcement Blog or the raw data is available at Github.

Computer generated buiilding footprints for Maryland. The methodology for the generation of the building footprints can be found at: https://github.com/Microsoft/USBuildingFootprints. These building footprints should be used a reference only and the geometries are not considered accurate enough to provide detailed estimates related to their location, area, or associated attributes.

Bing Maps is releasing open building footprints around the world. We have detected 1.3B buildings from Bing Maps imagery between 2014 and 2024 including Maxar, Airbus, and IGN France imagery. The data is freely available for download and use under ODbL.Source: https://github.com/microsoft/GlobalMLBuildingFootprintsFile Geodatabase for download

125 million building footprints deep learning generated by Microsoft for the USA.

This vector dataset contains information about individual building footprints covering all countries of the European Union (EU27). This is the result of conflating the building footprint polygons available in three datasets, and in the following order of priority: OpenStreetMap, Microsoft GlobalML Building Footprints and European Settlement Map.

Results indicate how DBSM R2023 compares robustly agains cadastral data from Estonia, used as reference area.

The comparison with GHS-BUILT-S, reveals a relative overestimation of the latter, factored by 0.68 at the EU scale for a sound match. While this dataset only contains the polygon of the building footprint, the aim is to continue to add relevant attributes from the point of view of energy efficiency and energy consumption in building in future versions.

Publicly available dataset of building footprints automatically mined from Microsoft Bing aerial photography.

Representative, computer generated building footprints for Rhode Island. Originally developed by Microsoft, these data were released by Microsoft as open source data in June 2018. Source date for these data is unknown, please see metadata for details.Original Microsoft announcement regarding availability of these data.

• This dataset is the combination of BingMap satellite images and masks from Microsoft Maps (https://github.com/microsoft/USBuildingFootprints)
• This dataset is almost from Alabama, US (99%). Others from Columbia.
• This dataset contains 10200 satellite images and 10200 masks.
• This dataset weight ~ 17Gb
• The satellite images from this dataset have resolution 0.5m/pixel, image size 1024x1024, ~1.5Mb/image.
• This dataset only contains pictures that have the total area of builbuilding in mask >= 1% area of that pictures. It means there are no images that do not have any building in this dataset.

Computer generated building footprints for the Tennessee. Comes out of the open source project by Microsoft to map all the buildings in the USA. More details can be found at https://github.com/Microsoft/USBuildingFootprints

In this project, I focus on enhancing global building data by combining multiple open-source geospatial datasets to predict building attributes, specifically the number of levels (floors). The core datasets used are the Microsoft Open Buildings dataset, which provides detailed building footprints across many regions, and Google’s Temporal Buildings Dataset (V1), which includes estimated building heights over time derived from satellite imagery. While Google's dataset includes height information for many buildings, a significant portion contains missing or unreliable values.

To address this, I first performed data preprocessing and merged the two datasets based on geographic coordinates. For buildings with missing height values, I used LightGBM, a gradient boosting framework, to impute missing heights using features like footprint area, geometry, and surrounding context. I then brought in OpenStreetMap (OSM) data to enrich the dataset with additional contextual information, such as building type, land use, and nearby infrastructure.

Using the combined dataset — now with both original and imputed heights — I trained a Random Forest Regressor to predict the number of building levels. Since floor count is not always directly available, especially in developing regions, this approach offers a way to estimate it from height and footprint data with relatively high accuracy.

This kind of modeling has important real-world applications. Predicting building levels can help support urban planning, disaster response, infrastructure development, and climate risk modeling. For example, knowing the number of floors in buildings allows for better estimation of population density, potential occupancy, or structural vulnerability in earthquake-prone or flood-prone regions. It can also help fill gaps in existing GIS data where traditional surveys are too expensive or time-consuming.

In future work, this framework could be extended globally and refined with additional data sources like LIDAR or census information to further improve the accuracy and coverage of building-level models

This data set is a conversion of Califonia building footprint file from GeoJSON format to shapefile format. The California building footprint file which contains 10,988,525 computer generated building footprints in California state is extracting from US building footprint dataset by Microsoft (2018).

Graph and download economic data for New Private Housing Structures Authorized by Building Permits for Amite County, MS (BPPRIV028005) from 1990 to 2024 about Amite County, MS; MS; permits; buildings; private; housing; and USA.