LandScan Global Population Database

High-resolution Population Distribution Data

Since 2011, East View has offered the LandScan™ Global Population Database developed by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

In October 2021, ORNL announced that future versions of LandScan would be available as an open access dataset.  Since that time, East View has continued to make the data available to subscribers via its WebApp. With the recent release of LandScan Global 2021 version on August 14, 2023, East View has decided to no longer update and maintain the East View LandScan WebApp.

Users may now access LandScan directly through ORNL. The LandScan database on the ORNL site is delivered in GeoTIFF format and is available at https://landscan.ornl.gov/.

East View remains available for any data customization, including conversion to the traditional ESRI raster format, as well as ArcInfo Binary or ASCII grids, GRIB, or many other raster formats. Polygonization to shapefile, MapInfo or other vector formats are also possible.

The LandScan archive is still available from East View, which contains all information as delivered by ORNL from LandScan 2000 to LandScan 2020, and includes ancillary demographic information for certain years. Contact us to learn more.

Note: East View will take down its LandScan WebApp as of January 1, 2024.

Now Available: LandScan HD for Ukraine and Russia

Newly-released LandScan High Definition (HD) data over Ukraine and Russia provides gridded population estimates at 3 arc-second (~100m) resolution.

LandScan is an award-winning database developed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for the United States Department of Defense. Using an innovative approach including complex algorithms, GIS and remote sensing, LandScan measures daytime movements and collective travel habits of all inhabited land mass, generating a better representation of population density during an average day. It is an ideal resource for sustainable development, risk assessment, strategic planning, humanitarian aid, disaster response and disease modeling, and an essential analysis tool for insurance, telecommunications and other business applications.

• High resolution population distribution data (30 arc seconds or ~1km at equator) in a GIS raster format
• Distribution depicts ambient (24 hr. average) population distribution
• Upgraded and updated annually to reflect changes in global political boundaries
• Available for purchase by country, region or globally
• Access LandScan via FTP, DVD, WMS/WCS or Web application