Interior ministry makes neighborhood heat maps publicly available

The interior ministry said Thursday it made satellite-based neighborhood heat maps available on the Living Safety Map website, showing temperatures can differ by as much as 7.5 degrees Celsius within one administrative area.

Produced by the National Disaster Management Research Institute, the maps have been provided since 2021. They combine satellite land-surface-temperature readings collected from June through September with geographical data and provide nationwide average temperatures at a resolution of 30 meters.

Built-up residential, industrial and commercial districts tend to be warmer than green or waterside spaces, including parks, forests and rivers. In cities, built-up areas averaged about 3.9 degrees Celsius warmer than parks and forested areas.

Local governments can pair the maps with spatial information on heat-vulnerable people and heat-reduction facilities to select locations for shelters and shade canopies. The maps can also support land-use planning for urban regeneration and development projects.

"Although the extreme heat wave has eased somewhat, hot weather continues across the country," Ahn Chae-myung, acting head of the National Disaster Management Research Institute, said. "The heat maps are scientific data that all administrative and public agencies can use for heat-wave responses, and we will continue to develop and provide various research models for data-based scientific disaster management."