[Geo4All] OSM analysis question for the GeoForAll community

[Christopher Tucker]

GeoForAll Brainiacs,

Do any of you know whether anyone has ever taken OSM data and used it to calculate the number of km2 of impermeable surface that have been built on Earth?  Different roads are different widths, and I am not sure how reliable such attribute info is in OSM, but it is clear that we could take the number of linear kilometers of road and with some assumptions, calculate how many km2 of impermeable surface has been laid down by humanity.

I would also love to find such a calculation that included all engineered surfaces, such as buildings, parking lots, etc.  But, that sounds hard.

Anyways, has anyone done such calculations?  I could use it for an article I am writing.

Thanks in advance for your collective brainpower!

Chris
703-981-9373