The global 30-m human settlement dataset from 1985 to 2025

GHS30 is the first global fine human settlement extents derived from the global 30 m impervious-surface (ISA) dynamic dataset and the global residential population of GHS-POP. It utilizes a refined classification system containing 4 human settlement types and covers the time span from 1985 to 2025 with an update cycle of 5-year. In specific, the global human settlement patches were delineated from the ISA data using a developed model that consisted of kernel density estimation, initial boundaries delineation, and morphological processing. The classification schema oriented to the typologies of human settlement patches were defined by combining the size of population and the population density within each patch that calculated from GHS-POP.

The GEE code used has been deposited in GitHub at https://github.com/oucong1004/globalHumanSettlement.