Rapid technological advances, particularly in image processing, have resulted in a recent explosion of microdata on buildings.
Traditional data from statistical registers, cadastral systems, and other administrative sources from the public sector, are now complemented by a multitude of alternative sources generated by the private sector from satellite imagery, sensor technologies and modelling methods. Highly detailed data has also been contributed as volunteered geographic information under open licenses and is being increasingly included in humanitarian activities complementing official data products. In some countries, these have become the main, or only, information on buildings, while in many other jurisdictions this information may supplement official statistics and fill major data gaps on buildings.
A growing volume of building-related microdata and geospatial data is now released with open data licenses and have become the focus of large-scale data integration undertakings, methodological developments, new data partnerships, and policy relevant analyses.
This emerging data space has significant potential not only for single national statistical systems, but also for international harmonisation and comparative analysis. The developments in this rapidly evolving data space are the focus of this workshop.