Population Data

The population database is the NASA gridded population of the World (GPW). This gives the population in each 30 arc-second pixels over the Earth’s surface from 60°S to 85°N.

The data was downloaded from the Centre for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) at Columbia University as described here: https://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/data/set/gpw-v4-population-count-rev11

Note the recommended citation for use of this data is:

“Center for International Earth Science Information Network - CIESIN - Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Count, Revision 11. Palisades, New York: NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). https://doi.org/10.7927/H4JW8BX5.”

The data was provided as 8 text format tiles of size 90° x 90° in (latitude, longitude), in total nearly 5 GB of data. To facilitate its use within Visualyse, this data was converted into just over a thousand binary files covering 5° x 5°, each just over a megabyte in size, then collected into a zip file.

Two versions of this data were processed, namely that for 2015 and 2020. These can be downloaded here:

• 2015 Population Data
• 2020 Population Data