Smart Surfaces Decision Support Tool (DST)

Data Download Page

Last updated: December 5, 2025

Overview

As part of the Cities for Smart Surfaces Program, the Smart Surfaces Coalition (SSC) and its partners developed the Smart Surfaces Decision Support Tool (DST) to help civic leaders understand how existing surfaces shape heat and flooding risk, and to identify high-impact Smart Surface strategies across metropolitan regions.

Available Datasets

  • Land Use/Land Cover Data (1m)
    1. Source: OpenUrban Land Cover (WRI, 2025)
    2. Format: GeoTIFF (.tif) and CSV (.csv)
    3. Spatial extent: Union of the regional planning area and census-defined urban area boundary for each core city
    4. Description: Classification of surface composition (impervious, vegetation, tree canopy, water, etc.) for each 1m pixel 
  • Tree Canopy Height (1m)
    1. Source: OpenUrban / WRI
    2. Format: GeoTIFF
    3. Spatial extent: Union of the regional planning area and census-defined urban area boundary for each core city
    4. Description: Mean canopy height (m) per 1m grid cell. Data can be transformed to produce a boolean presence/absence dataset, or filtered on the basis of canopy height as relevant for capturing trees of different sizes
  • Surface Albedo (10m)
    1. Source: Sentinel-2 summer composite reflectance (2022–2024 average)
    2. Format: GeoTIFF
    3. Spatial extent: Union of the regional planning area and census-defined urban area boundary for each core city
    4. Description: Pixel-wise mean surface reflectance estimates (0-1), where 0 represents 0% reflectance (100% absorption), and 1 represents 100% reflectance (0% absorption)
  • Land Surface Temperature (30m)
    1. Source: Landsat 8/9 summer composite (2022-2024) 
    2. Format: GeoTIFF
    3. Spatial extent: Union of the regional planning area and census-defined urban area boundary for each core city.
    4. Description: Average daytime summer land surface temperature

Download Instructions

  1. Click the link to open the OneDrive folder that hosts available data layers by city.
  2. Open the folder for the city of interest.
  3. Download the files. Files are compressed (.zip); extract before use.
  4. Each folder includes a metadata README and links to the DST data dictionary.

Citation & Attribution

The Smart Surfaces Decision Support Tool (DST) is owned and maintained by the Smart Surfaces Coalition (SSC) and was developed by The Trust for Public Land (TPL). The platform was created in collaboration with SSC data partners including the World Resources Institute (WRI) and Altostratus, Inc., and integrates datasets developed by SSC and its partners alongside publicly available and third-party sources.

When referencing the tool or reproducing maps and analyses derived from it, please use the following general citation:

Smart Surfaces Coalition (2025). Smart Surfaces Decision Support Tool (DST). Platform developed by the Trust for Public Land in collaboration with the Smart Surfaces Coalition and data partners including the World Resources Institute and Altostratus, Inc. Available at https://web.tplgis.org/smart-surfaces-coalition/

When referencing data layers derived from the DST, please use the following general citation:

Smart Surfaces Coalition (2025). [Dataset name]. Produced by [Source]. Smart Surfaces Decision Support Tool (DST). Accessed [Month YYYY]. Available at https://web.tplgis.org/smart-surfaces-coalition/

Example:

Smart Surfaces Coalition (2025). City Cooling Potential (°F). Produced by Altostratus, Inc. Smart Surfaces Decision Support Tool (DST). Accessed January 2025. Available at https://web.tplgis.org/smart-surfaces-coalition/

When citing specific datasets, users should reference the original data sources listed in the accompanying DST data dictionary.

Contact

For technical questions or data access requests, contact data@smartsurfacescoalition.org

DATA DOWNLOAD BY CITY/PROJECT REGION