An urbanization monitoring data set for world heritage sites in the Belt and Road region

World heritage refers to the properties globally recognized as having outstanding universal value. The urbanization process has changed the land cover and use, transportation, landscape and environment in cities, and thus posed either direct or indirect threats to heritage sites. Based on three global Earth Observation data sets including Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL), global population grid products (Worldpop) and the global night-time light images (DMSP/OLS), an urbanization intensity index (UII) was developed to dynamically monitor the urbanization process in the vicinity of world heritage sites. Large UII values represent high urbanization levels and intense human activities in the study area, and vice versa. The assessment results showed that the mean value of UII at 79 world cultural heritage sites in the Belt and Road region increased from 0.26 in 2000 to 0.29 in 2015.

世界遗产指在全球范围内被认定为具有卓越普遍价值的属性。城市化进程改变了城市的土地覆盖与利用、交通、景观和环境，从而对遗产地构成了直接或间接的威胁。基于包括全球人类聚居层（Global Human Settlement Layer, GHSL）、全球人口网格产品（Worldpop）和全球夜间灯光图像（DMSP/OLS）在内的三个全球地球观测数据集，开发了一种城市化强度指数（Urbanization Intensity Index, UII），以动态监测世界遗产地周边的城市化进程。高UII值代表研究区域城市化水平高和人类活动强度大，反之亦然。评估结果显示，丝绸之路经济带区域内79个世界文化遗产地的UII平均值从2000年的0.26上升至2015年的0.29。