{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,1]],"date-time":"2026-04-01T17:54:04Z","timestamp":1775066044287,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"15","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,25]],"date-time":"2020-07-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1595635200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100004421","name":"World Bank Group","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["contract no. 7194331"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["contract no. 7194331"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100004421","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"European Space Agency (ESA)","award":["contract no. 4000126100\/19\/I-EF"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["contract no. 4000126100\/19\/I-EF"]}]},{"name":"German Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development","award":["reference number 10.08.17.7-18.13"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["reference number 10.08.17.7-18.13"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Continental to global scale mapping of the human settlement extent based on earth observation satellite data has made considerable progress. Nevertheless, the current approaches only provide a two-dimensional representation of the built environment. Therewith, a full characterization is restricted in terms of the urban morphology and built-up density, which can only be gained by a detailed examination of the vertical settlement extent. This paper introduces a methodology for the extraction of three-dimensional (3D) information on human settlements by analyzing the digital elevation and radar intensity data collected by the German TanDEM-X satellite mission in combination with multispectral Sentinel-2 imagery and data from the Open Street Map initiative and the Global Urban Footprint human settlement mask. The first module of the underlying processor generates a normalized digital surface model from the TanDEM-X digital elevation model for all regions marked as a built-up area by the Global Urban Footprint. The second module generates a building mask based on a joint processing of Open Street Map, TanDEM-X\/TerraSAR-X radar images, the calculated normalized digital surface model and Sentinel-2 imagery. Finally, a third module allocates the local relative heights of the normalized digital surface model to the building structures provided by the building mask. The outcome of the procedure is a 3D map of the built environment showing the estimated local height for all identified vertical building structures at 12 m spatial resolution. The results of a first validation campaign based on reference data collected for the seven cities of Amsterdam (NL), Indianapolis (US), Kigali (RW), Munich (DE), New York (US), Vienna (AT), and Washington (US) indicate the potential of the proposed methodology to accurately estimate the distribution of building heights within the built-up area.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs12152391","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,27]],"date-time":"2020-07-27T04:39:50Z","timestamp":1595824790000},"page":"2391","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":42,"title":["Towards a Large-Scale 3D Modeling of the Built Environment\u2014Joint Analysis of TanDEM-X, Sentinel-2 and Open Street Map Data"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5868-9045","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Thomas","family":"Esch","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"German Aerospace Center (DLR), Earth Observation Center (EOC), German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD), Oberpfaffenhofen, D-82234 We\u00dfling, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9444-2296","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Julian","family":"Zeidler","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"German Aerospace Center (DLR), Earth Observation Center (EOC), German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD), Oberpfaffenhofen, D-82234 We\u00dfling, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6302-2491","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Daniela","family":"Palacios-Lopez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"German Aerospace Center (DLR), Earth Observation Center (EOC), German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD), Oberpfaffenhofen, D-82234 We\u00dfling, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5042-5176","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mattia","family":"Marconcini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"German Aerospace Center (DLR), Earth Observation Center (EOC), German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD), Oberpfaffenhofen, D-82234 We\u00dfling, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Achim","family":"Roth","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"German Aerospace Center (DLR), Earth Observation Center (EOC), German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD), Oberpfaffenhofen, D-82234 We\u00dfling, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Milena","family":"M\u00f6nks","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"German Aerospace Center (DLR), Earth Observation Center (EOC), German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD), Oberpfaffenhofen, D-82234 We\u00dfling, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Benjamin","family":"Leutner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"German Aerospace Center (DLR), Earth Observation Center (EOC), German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD), Oberpfaffenhofen, D-82234 We\u00dfling, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Elisabeth","family":"Brzoska","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"German Aerospace Center (DLR), Earth Observation Center (EOC), German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD), Oberpfaffenhofen, D-82234 We\u00dfling, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Annekatrin","family":"Metz-Marconcini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"German Aerospace Center (DLR), Earth Observation Center (EOC), German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD), Oberpfaffenhofen, D-82234 We\u00dfling, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6181-0187","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Felix","family":"Bachofer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"German Aerospace Center (DLR), Earth Observation Center (EOC), German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD), Oberpfaffenhofen, D-82234 We\u00dfling, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sveinung","family":"Loekken","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"European Space Agency (ESA), Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes, Future Systems Department, \u03a6-lab Explore, ESRIN, Via Galileo Galilei, 64 I-00044 Casella Postale, Frascati, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Stefan","family":"Dech","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"German Aerospace Center (DLR), Earth Observation Center (EOC), German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD), Oberpfaffenhofen, D-82234 We\u00dfling, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division (2020, June 24). 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