Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center

Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center
Name	Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center
Formation	2003
Type	Data center
Headquarters	Palisades, New York
Parent organization	NASA

Contents

Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center

The Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center provides geospatial datasets and applied research supporting hazard risk, climate change, and disaster resilience planning. Operated with ties to NASA, it integrates population, infrastructure, and exposure information to support decision-making by agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, and international research programs like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Its activities link observational programs, modeling consortia, and policy fora across the United States, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.

Overview

The center was established to centralize socioeconomic geospatial resources for use in assessments produced by entities such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NOAA, and the World Bank. It aggregates contributions from academic institutions including Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and aligns with multilateral efforts such as the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. The center supports operational programs run by agencies like the United States Geological Survey, research networks like the International Research Institute for Climate and Society, and standards bodies such as the Open Geospatial Consortium.

The data holdings encompass gridded population surfaces, infrastructure inventories, and exposure layers used by analysts at United Nations Development Programme, Asian Development Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank. Core products include population rasters derived from census data produced by national statistical offices—examples include datasets tied to United States Census Bureau products and national agencies in India, Brazil, and South Africa. The center curates building footprint datasets used by urban planners collaborating with United Nations Human Settlements Programme and civil protection authorities such as Japan Meteorological Agency. Services include web portals interoperable with tools from Esri, QGIS, and repositories maintained by NASA Earthdata, enabling integration with models from groups like Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Research initiatives link socioeconomic layers to hazard models developed by teams at Princeton University, University of Cambridge, and Imperial College London. Applications span flood mapping work with United Kingdom Department for International Development, drought exposure assessments for Food and Agriculture Organization, and urban heat analyses informing projects led by World Health Organization and United Nations Environment Programme. The center’s datasets are applied in scenario exercises for climate attribution studies used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and in risk transfer instruments coordinated with the World Bank Group and African Risk Capacity. Collaborative research also supports impact assessments in post-disaster recovery coordinated with International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and humanitarian mapping initiatives such as Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team.

Partnerships extend to academic consortia including Stanford University, University of Oxford, and Yale University, and to technology providers like Google and Microsoft for cloud hosting and analysis. The center works with donors such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and multilateral lenders including the European Investment Bank. Collaborative projects have interfaced with programs run by United Nations Children's Fund, United Nations Office for Project Services, and regional entities such as the Asian Development Bank. Cross-disciplinary ties include work with climate centers like Met Office and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, and with specialized laboratories at Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories.

Governance structures reflect oversight by stakeholders from NASA and partner universities, with advisory input from agencies including Federal Emergency Management Agency and international organizations such as the United Nations Development Programme. Funding streams combine federal research grants from agencies like National Science Foundation and cooperative agreements with NASA, supplemented by project financing from foundations and international financial institutions like the World Bank. Institutional arrangements often mirror models used by data infrastructures such as the National Center for Atmospheric Research and incorporate data-sharing policies akin to those of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Case studies illustrate use in major events and planning exercises: flood exposure mapping that informed relief coordination after events monitored by NOAA and response by Federal Emergency Management Agency; urban resilience planning applied in projects with City of New York officials and development programs by United Nations Human Settlements Programme; and agricultural vulnerability mapping supporting programs run by Food and Agriculture Organization and International Fund for Agricultural Development. The center’s datasets have underpinned risk-financing products developed with the World Bank Group and enabled academic publications coauthored with teams at Harvard University and California Institute of Technology. Its role complements surveying efforts such as those by the United States Geological Survey and contributes to international assessments like reports produced for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Category:Data centers