Google Releases Heat Resilience Data for 50 Global Cities
Google Research launched an expanded Heat Resilience Earth Engine app providing building-level rooftop reflectivity data for over 50 cities, helping urban planners mitigate urban heat islands through targeted cool-roof retrofits.
Why it matters
Urban heat islands cause cities to warm significantly more than surrounding areas, contributing to health crises. Providing building-level data allows for precise, cost-effective climate adaptation.
TL;DR
- 01Google expanded rooftop reflectivity data to 50+ cities globally.
- 02The project uses AI to fuse Sentinel-2 data with 30-cm commercial imagery.
- 03Targeted cool-roof planning could mitigate extreme urban heat by up to 0.5°C.
- 04The Heat Resilience Earth Engine App is now live for public use.
Technical Implementation
The Heat Resilience pipeline uses machine learning to fuse Sentinel-2 satellite data with high-resolution (30-cm) commercial imagery (Airbus Pléiades Neo). By blending data captured across different wavelengths, the system reconstructs a spectral profile for urban pixels, enabling building-level insights.
Accessing the Data
The expanded dataset is accessible via the Heat Resilience Earth Engine App. The tool allows users to visualize rooftop reflectivity as centroids and transition from census-tract aggregates to specific building insights. Data is also available for download for local analysis.