CANBERRA, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- An Australian data company has successfully mapped every building in the country in a world-first.
The Geoscape data set, collected by PSMA Australia, marks the first time that every building on a continent has been mapped.
It revealed that there were 15.2 million buildings in Australia larger than nine square meters.
PSMA Australia was established by the state and territory governments of Australia to collate the data to provide an accurate picture of Australia's infrastructure.
"The information provided is already available to anyone who walked down the street," PSMA chief executive Dan Paull told Fairfax Media.
"The information has not been brought together previously.
"I think it's an exciting landmark."
PSMA used artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze satellite images of Australia and create the data set, which shows every building in three-dimensions.
"Australia's a very large country. We didn't know where the buildings actually were. You have to look at the entire 7.6 million square kilometres to know where all the buildings are," Paull said.
"We saw this as something that could greatly improve the quality of communications, planning and insurance."
In addition to its use for infrastructure purposes, the data will be widely used for planning to see how a proposed structure fits into a space and even how it casts a shadow.
According to the analysis, Australia's largest building is the Melbourne Airport while the tallest is Melbourne's Eureka Tower.
New South Wales (NSW), Australia's most populous state, had the highest percentage of Australia's buildings with 27.8 percent while Victoria, the nation's fastest-growing state, had the highest density.
