The Global Urban Footprint® (GUF®) database shows the human settlements patterns in urban and rural environments in a so far unprecedented spatial resolution of about 12m per raster cell (0.4 arcseconds). A second version of the product is available in 2.8 arcseconds raster cell resolution (about 84 m). The GUF® dataset is based on the radar (SAR) satellite imagery of the German satellites TerraSAR-X and TanDEMr-X. It reflects the distribution of vertical built-up structures around the year 2012, with 93% of the satellite images recorded in 2011 and 2012, and remaining data gaps filled in 2013 and 2014.