FEMA USA Structures State GDB
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) FEMA
Version: View help for Version V1
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Project Citation:
FEMA. FEMA USA Structures State GDB. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2025-02-09. https://doi.org/10.3886/E218721V1
Project Description
Project Title:
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FEMA USA Structures State GDB
Summary:
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USA Structures
FEMA GIS supports the emergency management community with world-class geospatial information, services, and technologies to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from and mitigate against all hazards.
Original Distribution URL:
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https://disasters.geoplatform.gov/USA_Structures/
Scope of Project
Universe:
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Results
Currently, the building outline data is publicly available on the Esri Living Atlas as a Feature Layer for anyone to use in their own geographic products.
Background
FEMA’s Response Geospatial Office, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the U.S. Geological Survey collaborated to build and maintain the nation’s first comprehensive inventory of all structures larger than 450 square feet for use in Flood Insurance Mitigation, Emergency Preparedness and Response.
The Problem
FEMA and our federal partners identified a need to create a building outline (the polygon representation of the structure) and an updated address database for the nation that could help ensure that critical infrastructure and residential buildings are accounted for in the disaster response and recovery decision-making processes.To respond effectively, we need to understand population and the built environment—where people live, work and the critical infrastructure they rely on.
FEMA and our federal partners identified a need to create a building outline (the polygon representation of the structure) and an updated address database for the nation that could help ensure that critical infrastructure and residential buildings are accounted for in the disaster response and recovery decision-making processes.To respond effectively, we need to understand population and the built environment—where people live, work and the critical infrastructure they rely on.
It's a Matter of Equity
Many residential structures have an address where the occupants receive mail, but the address is not associated with the structure’s physical location. This can happen when people use a Post Office box, or when the mailbox is located in a central location, which is often the case in mobile home parks, apartment buildings, and rural communities.The lack of structure information can limit our ability to adequately characterize a disaster’s potential impacts since parts of the community are missed by the predictive models. Furthermore, the homes that lack a footprint with an associated address are occupied by the most vulnerable in the community, delaying aid to those who are most in need. How? Since the location and address are not coupled, FEMA and our response partners can struggle to determine which damaged home is associated with the address presented by the survivor seeking assistance.
Many residential structures have an address where the occupants receive mail, but the address is not associated with the structure’s physical location. This can happen when people use a Post Office box, or when the mailbox is located in a central location, which is often the case in mobile home parks, apartment buildings, and rural communities.The lack of structure information can limit our ability to adequately characterize a disaster’s potential impacts since parts of the community are missed by the predictive models. Furthermore, the homes that lack a footprint with an associated address are occupied by the most vulnerable in the community, delaying aid to those who are most in need. How? Since the location and address are not coupled, FEMA and our response partners can struggle to determine which damaged home is associated with the address presented by the survivor seeking assistance.
Creating the Inventory
To create the building outline inventory, FEMA, in conjunction with DHS Science and Technology, partnered with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to extract the outlines via commercially available satellite imagery. We then worked to determine the building’s usage or occupancy type (e.g., residential, commercial, industrial) which is noted as an attribute for each structure.In the past, geographers have relied on satellite imagery as a high-coverage and low-cost data source to create building-location inventories; however, identifying individual buildings is labor-intensive and had been difficult to automate due to large variations of building appearances. Our processes included some new machine learning techniques and a collection method to obtain data from multiple sources, including from local governments who agreed to share it, and open data from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).
To create the building outline inventory, FEMA, in conjunction with DHS Science and Technology, partnered with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to extract the outlines via commercially available satellite imagery. We then worked to determine the building’s usage or occupancy type (e.g., residential, commercial, industrial) which is noted as an attribute for each structure.In the past, geographers have relied on satellite imagery as a high-coverage and low-cost data source to create building-location inventories; however, identifying individual buildings is labor-intensive and had been difficult to automate due to large variations of building appearances. Our processes included some new machine learning techniques and a collection method to obtain data from multiple sources, including from local governments who agreed to share it, and open data from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).
Building Occupancy Types
In 2018, FEMA adopted a Building Occupancy Classification standard to ensure consistency across all FEMA programs. Creating a standard was important because an understanding of a building’s occupancy and use plays a critical role in enabling FEMA to undertake business processes such as analyzing risk, assessing damage, providing assistance, performing mitigation projects, coordinating search and rescue, and many others.As of December 2021, the USA Structures dataset includes occupancy type (e.g., Residential, Commercial, Industrial) and primary occupancy type (e.g., Single Family Residential, Restaurant, Hospital) classifications for all structures. The team developed the data using a variety of sources including Census Housing Unit data, HIFLD, LightBox parcel data, and a modeled approach. Occupancy type and address is available for all states and territories.
In 2018, FEMA adopted a Building Occupancy Classification standard to ensure consistency across all FEMA programs. Creating a standard was important because an understanding of a building’s occupancy and use plays a critical role in enabling FEMA to undertake business processes such as analyzing risk, assessing damage, providing assistance, performing mitigation projects, coordinating search and rescue, and many others.As of December 2021, the USA Structures dataset includes occupancy type (e.g., Residential, Commercial, Industrial) and primary occupancy type (e.g., Single Family Residential, Restaurant, Hospital) classifications for all structures. The team developed the data using a variety of sources including Census Housing Unit data, HIFLD, LightBox parcel data, and a modeled approach. Occupancy type and address is available for all states and territories.
Universal Unique Identifier (UUID)
In addition to the occupancy type and geometry, each polygon includes an Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) which is a unique ID for each structure across the entire dataset. This allows for connections to individual structures to unique data sources. The data schema is flexible enough to add new data fields and attributes.
In addition to the occupancy type and geometry, each polygon includes an Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) which is a unique ID for each structure across the entire dataset. This allows for connections to individual structures to unique data sources. The data schema is flexible enough to add new data fields and attributes.
Results
Currently, the building outline data is publicly available on the Esri Living Atlas as a Feature Layer for anyone to use in their own geographic products.
- The data is designed so additional attributes can be added as they become available (e.g., first-floor elevation).
- The database will create a shared baseline between stakeholders, including DHS, local government, HAZUS, USGS, and more.
- This effort supports and leverages the National Address Database (where available). FEMA is working with multiple partners to add additional addresses where appropriate.
Impact
This new capability will assist FEMA in the execution of its mission by improving:
Access the Data
Find the data on the Esri Living Atlas at USA Structures.
This new capability will assist FEMA in the execution of its mission by improving:
- Pre-incident planning in determining buildings at risk
- Disaster response and recovery operations by enhancing predictive models as well as our damage assessments
- Interagency collaboration through a shared baseline of impacted structures.
Access the Data
Find the data on the Esri Living Atlas at USA Structures.
DATA INFORMATION AND DISCLAIMERS
- Some data may be subject to copyright in the United States and other countries. Please see the data layer’s item details page for terms of use of the data.
FEMA provides the Geospatial Resource Center to facilitate information sharing between governmental and non-governmental entities and the public. However, in accordance with data use agreements and in consideration of privacy and confidentiality, some data may not be publicly available to prevent the release of protected health information (PHI), personally identifiable information (PII), or other sensitive information. In addition, all of our partners who provide data to the site are responsible for their own data’s integrity. - Please see FEMA's Privacy Policy | FEMA.gov for more details.
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