Microsoft Building Footprint Data

This is not an import proposal. It is only a catalog of data that could be made available for an import.

Imports and automated edits should only be carried out by those with experience and understanding of the way the OpenStreetMap community creates maps, and only with careful planning and consultation with the local community.
See Import/Guidelines and Automated Edits code of conduct for more information. Imports/automated edits which do not follow these guidelines might be reverted!

Microsoft has released multiple building footprint datasets, all of which are licensed under the same Open Database License (ODbL) as OpenStreetMap. Any import of these building footprints must strictly follow the import guidelines.

Microsoft Building footprints are available in most of the world, including USA, Canada, Tanzania&Uganda, and Australia.

The building footprints can be added manually to OpenStreetMap using the RapID editor or the mapwithai plugin for JOSM.

In March 2017, Microsoft released an initial dataset containing approximately 9.8 million high-quality building footprints with heights in 44 U.S. states. Key selected metropolitan areas are covered. The footprints are the result of Microsoft's efforts and not purchased or obtained from other sources. They are freely available for download for import into OpenStreetMap. Even if your locality has buildings, it worth checking out these high quality footprints even if just to capture the building heights.

In June 2018, Microsoft released a second dataset containing 125 million computer-generated building footprints in all 50 U.S. states.

In October 2020, Microsoft released a dataset containing 11.3 million buildings in Australia.

In 2022 Microsoft released their Global ML footprints. A visual heat-map of the area this database covers is shown in their diagram.

March 2017 Release

The data can be visualised in Mapbox Studio Chetan Gowda's diary and is documented in Osmlab Github.

The height data is measured in meters, the default unit for OSM height measurements. No unit conversion is needed.

2017 Release sample data

What the data include:

Approx. 9.8 million building footprints for portions of metro areas in 44 US States in Shapefile format.

Creation Process:

Hand digitized footprints from very high resolution aerial photography captured by Microsoft. The Height attribute was interpolated from a digital terrain model derived from the same data.

Data Vintage:

The footprints were digitized in 2015 from imagery captured in 2014 & 2015.

ogr2osm.py Translation script

def filterTags(attrs):
    if not attrs: 
        return
    tags = {}
    tags['building'] = 'yes'
    if 'HEIGHT' in attrs and attrs['HEIGHT'] != '':
        tags['height'] = attrs['HEIGHT'].rstrip('0')

    return tags

Data Catalog

State	Description		Notes
Alabama	Greater Phoenix City, Mobile, and Montgomery 163,993 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgQf-VQ7jX65fQVF-
Arizona	Tucson 176,217 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgQz134stmXg3vw_W
Arkansas	Little Rock with 5 buildings just across the river from Memphis 49,150 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgS-H0U2TzpN7hWQp
California	Bakersfield, Fresno, Modesto, Santa Barbara, Sacramento, Stockton, Calaveras County, San Fran & bay area south to San Jose and north to Cloverdale - plus more! 3,926,192 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgTRi0NVbkgkTtYo4	See the California section.
Colorado	Interior of Denver - about 23sq miles 42,502 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgQiS1qosCzhTMcUn
Connecticut	Enfield and Windsor Locks 21,131 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgQlI6UEQx1Aa-nrX
Delaware	Dover 22,532 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgQqO6E9e2kI28R16
Florida	Tampa, Clearwater, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Daytona Beach, Jacksonville and Gainesville 1,082,812 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgmvM_0hhJXqBrKMK	Tampa and Clearwater are being added as part of the Hurricane Irma Relief efforts.
Georgia	Columbus, Atlanta, and Augusta 124,920 buildings Available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgQ2TmyIVjnJ90N3-
Illinois	East St. Louis, downtown area, Springfield, Champaign and Urbana 81,872 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgQ4irmpCv9i8RZTe
Indiana	Indianapolis downtown and Jeffersonville downtown 11,586 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgQ-hJIQalMF_HFzO
Iowa	Des Moines 98,850 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgRAXyBPYtKrsX2Tx
Kansas	Topeka 31,979 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgRHR6dnrZeuoEpRl
Kentucky	Louisville downtown, Covington and Newport 28,983	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgRIqSJZjm6WnTEed
Louisiana	Shreveport, Baton Rouge and center of New Orleans 170,136 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgROc98Ylrw6pxYGP
Maine	Agusta and Portland 32,063 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgRSwTynigZOz_lCg
Maryland	Baltimore 50,593 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgRVGf1eSuoJTBX4M
Massachusetts	Boston, South Attleboro, commercial area in Seekonk, and Springfield 95,209 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgRbZ-AHQPT_hicpM
Michigan	Downtown Detroit 8,140 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgRdrDx2PbfTnN2Eg
Minnesota	Downtown Minneapolis 12,170 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgRgg2a6MtOkLYYRs
Mississippi	Biloxi and Gulfport 30,727 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgRmzOeEMXWBg5FQh	Biloxi and Gulfport were imported in 2012, but height data may be useful
Missouri	Downtown St. Louis, Jefferson City and Springfield 96,575 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgRrFIfesRgaNksdZ
Nebraska	Lincoln 73,304 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgRsZMVI5BIeGw49t
Nevada	Carson City, Reno and Los Vegas 528,638 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgScVkeW4A_HHi361
New Hampshire	Concord 7,879 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgR02zS3mv53un15x
New Jersey	Camden and downtown Jersey City 6,303 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgR7by_pqTgZ-ob-4
New Mexico	Albuquerque and Santa Fe 60,676 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgR8HV5cMJAili_rD	Albuquerque Building Import#Schedule
New York	Syracuse and Manhattan 105,854 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgSD_21CQCPL-4XPS
North Carolina	Greensboro, Durham, and Raleigh 84,104 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgSHh3gCCHAkQ0ko8
North Dakota	Bismarck 33,823 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgSJ5nzpzGPbVygb1
Ohio	Downtown Cleveland, downtown Cincinnati, and downtown Columbus 47,046 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgSNaJssYZOgdw0Fq
Oklahoma	Downtown Tulsa and downtown Oklahoma City 38,711 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgSQDIFEbpQmiSGqD
Oregon	Portland 6,660 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgSXU17iEzO8Mst1h
Other	Small slivers on the coastlines 6,321 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgSbIe6YllIRcVs9P
Pennsylvania	Downtown Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and Philadelphia 168,483 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgShd2YUbVuuWEFy7
Rhode Island	The greater Providence area 140,694 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgSkT68hYRbwYwtI6
South Carolina	Greensville, downtown Augsta, greater Columbia area and greater Charleston area 199,228 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgSuT7-RsYJpYae6U
South Dakota	greater Pierre area 7,292 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgSpElMdI68OnT2og
Tennessee	Memphis and Nashville 219,903 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgTEXl8nUs4gZ2Pty
Texas	Lubbock, Longview, part of Fort Worth, Austin, downtown Houston, and Corpus Christi 236,466 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgSxCOnhjhJGlsVHx	Corpus Christi building are being added as part of Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. Fort Worth is complete from a separate import project, although height data could be imported.
Utah	Salt Lake City downtown 14,473 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgTDwkS8QSd32_tOl
Virginia	Richmond 143,298 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgTLakZf_qT6Nmqb7
Washington	Greater Seattle area to Tacoma to the south and Marysville to the north 1,014,263 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgmouRMBXEnQwjgdf
Wisconsin	Green Bay, downtown Milwaukee and Madison 152,181 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgTNvpfoPlWR4afds
Wyoming	Cheyenne 27,303 buildings available	https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqWv0F0N63JkgS0tQ5liMwGOLVjc

California

California has more than triple the amount of data available than any other state. Importing it will be no small task but doing it in chunks by several people will make it manageable. The buildings in the Bay Area alone in the file stretch from Clear Lake way down to Hollister and run along the coast in Santa Cruz all the way up the East Bay. Several other large cities and areas are included in the data. There have been several imports of buildings here in California and many people have put in a lot of work tracing individual buildings. These data will tie in those imports and will be a valuable addition. Here are links to the data broken apart further by region along with the status of buildings in the areas.

Area	Current Status	Next Steps	Link	Interested users
Bakersfield	Most buildings already added through import	Import heights only	https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq5FUE87hFgOddYhJBWT8nvbkMY
Bay Area (needs to be further broken apart)	Buildings done through imports in San Francisco, Cupertino and others and extensive tracing	Check municipal building data available for San Jose, Berkeley and Fremont that may be of higher quality, review data, import new buildings, replace heights of existing. For San Francisco, existing import project at https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Building_Height_Import for better quality city-provided data.	https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq5FUE87hFgOgQF5ZOZAZpEeagdZ	Bdon, Minh Nguyen, Open Source San José
Del Mar	A few buildings added through tracing	Import buildings, verify with existing, merge heights	https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq5FUE87hFgOdmpKCkY8F2ocOCE
Fresno	A few buildings added through tracing	Import buildings, verify with existing, merge heights	https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq5FUE87hFgOdzVo5FoF1IaZGcM
Fullerton	A few buildings added through tracing, includes part of Los Angeles import	Import new buildings not included in import, verify with existing, merge heights	https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq5FUE87hFgOeDEb9uOpIs42BcI
Gilroy, Morgan Hill, Hollister	Most buildings added through tracing	Import heights only	https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq5FUE87hFgOeYeX6FZwwKHtIOA
Hollywood	Done through Los Angeles import	Import heights only	https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq5FUE87hFgOenGqDjVgun1SsPg
Modesto	A few buildings added through tracing	Import buildings, verify with existing, merge heights	https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq5FUE87hFgOexd1n3fHUx6JFYc
Oxnard	A few buildings added through tracing	Import buildings, verify with existing, merge heights	https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq5FUE87hFgOfEmpC8c6QB3TSYA
Sacramento	Buildings in West Sacrament added through import, others have been traced	Import new buildings not included in import, verify with existing, merge heights	https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq5FUE87hFgOgQCoFKmCRgpF354g
Santa Barbara	A few buildings added through tracing	Import buildings, verify with existing, merge heights	https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq5FUE87hFgOffLblNr_oDnYN7w
Sonora	A few buildings added through tracing	Import buildings, verify with existing, merge heights	https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq5FUE87hFgOfjSrcgT8l5FniWs
Stockton	Several buildings and address points added through import but not all.	Check existing buildings and add new. Conflate with existing address points.	https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq5FUE87hFgOf38WV1n9TeT9PBY

Michigan

There's several scripts for outputting some information, generating modified osm data and extracting buildings that aren't present at all in OSM..

There's more description in the readme: https://github.com/maxerickson/osm_ms_buildings

Only tested against the Michigan data which has 8140 geometries, concentrated in the Detroit area. Not sure how things will go with larger datasets. A clipped out region of reasonable size should work fine (the scripts complete in a few seconds for ~10,000 buildings on my older laptop).

For Michigan/Detroit, the main takeaway is that a *lot* of the buildings are already in OpenStreetMap.

This histogram is calculated using the largest single overlap for each existing OpenStreetMap building (data at

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxwWB33rZeUVU2FVaEVGUk9sNFU ):

bin count

0.0-0.1 7645

0.1-0.2 41

0.2-0.3 34

0.3-0.4 53

0.4-0.5 64

0.5-0.6 106

0.6-0.7 112

0.7-0.8 280

0.8-0.9 954

0.9-1.0 5133

The areas there are presently calculated stupidly, in WGS 84, but I think the relative information should be fine. So of the ~14422 buildings present in OSM, 7630 don't overlap the Microsoft buildings at all and 5 or 6 thousand overlap quite a lot. Of the visual review I've done, I'd say that the existing OSM buildings tend to be more detailed and line up more closely with current Bing Imagery.

Separately, there are 410 buildings in the Microsoft data that do not exist in OSM (take a look

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxwWB33rZeUVNTVJVmNQcEg2RHM ).

A more sophisticated matching algorithm is probably a good idea, but for the Detroit data I would be pretty comfortable mechanically adding

the heights for the buildings where the overlap is roughly 80% or higher and then doing a more manual process for the new buildings (checking against newer imagery?), and then also doing some sort of more manual process to capture the information from the several hundred buildings with smaller overlaps.

Max Erickson [[1]]

June 2018 Release

This dataset was already discussed on imports mailing list. Some areas seems to have better quality than others, and round buildings are transformed to squares.

2018 Release sample data

What the data include:

Approx. 125 million building footprint polygon geometries in all 50 US States in GeoJSON format.

Creation Process:

Computer generated.

Data Vintage:
Bing Imagery is a composite of multiple sources, and it is difficult to know the exact dates for individual pieces of data.

ogr2osm.py Translation script

def filterTags(attrs):
    if not attrs: 
        return
    tags = {}
    tags['building'] = 'yes' 
    return tags

Data Catalog

The dataset is available to download on the Github page.

Related import proposals

State	Area/Town	Responsible	Wiki Page	Task	Date started	Date finished	Status
US	US	Greg Morgan	Import/Catalogue/US/BingBuildings	Arizona state data was processed for imports.	March 28, 2019	TBA	In Progress
Florida	Columbia County	PGW77	Columbia County FLA Import				Proposed
Florida	Franklin County	Glassman	Franklin Florida Building Import	#87 - Franklin County MS Building Import	Oct 20, 2018	Oct 21, 2018	Finished (pending for validation)
Texas	North Central Texas	Andrew Matheny	Microsoft Building Import - North Central Texas	Multiple	Oct 28, 2018	TBD	In Progress

Australia

In October 2020, Microsoft released 11,334,866‬ buildings in Australia extracted from 2013–2018 Maxar imagery and made them available for editing in RapiD.

Global 2022 Release

In 2022 Microsoft released 856 million polygons of building footprints. This is available through RapiD. It covers many areas of the globe. It is available at GitHub.