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.