Building Footprint Data
Building Footprint Data for Local Scale Analysis: Lessons from Mapping Rooftop Solar Potential in Northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Open building footprint datasets now make building-level analysis possible in countries with limited local data. This explainer shows how I used Microsoft's open building footprints to estimate rooftop solar potential for more than 1.5 million buildings across nine districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It covers where to get the data, how to combine it with elevation and population data, the problems I ran into, and other research uses such as disaster exposure analysis.