# Hazards and Population Mapper

> Map natural hazards, population, and infrastructure for risk assessment. (iPhone/iPad app by NASA.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hazards-and-population-mapper/id1092168898 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [NASA](https://appshunter.io/developer/355542146)
- Category: Reference
- Price: Free
- Rating: 3.30/5 from 6 App Store ratings · 4 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 9.0 · 12 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2016-03-19
- Data updated: 2026-08-15
- Monetization: free
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hazards-and-population-mapper/id1092168898/reviews.md

## What is Hazards and Population Mapper?

Hazards and Population Mapper (HazPop) is a free app that enables users to easily display recent natural hazard data in relationship to population, major infrastructure, and satellite imagery. Hazards data include the location of active fires over the past 48 hours; earthquake alerts over the past seven days; and yesterday′s air pollution data measured from space. The app shows the location of major dams and nuclear power plants and provides more detailed information and imagery for these facilities where available. By drawing a circle around a point or area of interest on the map, users can obtain an estimate of the total population and land area enclosed within.

Developed by the NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) operated by the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) at Columbia University, HazPop combines data and map layers from various sources including NASA's Land, Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EOS (LANCE) and Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and others using a variety of open Web mapping services. The custom population estimates are provided by the SEDAC Population Estimation Service (PES) based on SEDAC′s Gridded Population of the World, version 4 (GPWv4) data for 2015.

HazPop is designed to be used by disaster risk managers, humanitarian response organizations, public health professionals, journalists, and others needing a quick assessment of the potential dangers posed by a major hazardous event or developing emergency. For example, a disaster response agency can obtain a rough estimate of the population and major facilities near a recent earthquake as an input into response planning. Journalists or students can explore the location of recent wildfires relative to dense populations, roads, terrain, and water bodies. Due to the coarse resolution and varying quality of some of the data, HazPop is not intended to support in-depth risk assessment or location-specific response needs.

HazPop supports a number of other functions including: Monitoring regions around an area of interest, e.g. hazardous area prone to natural disasters, major infrastructure, or densely populated areas; Sorting dams, nuclear power plants, or earthquakes by proximity to your location or by their characteristics; Determining the distance from your location to any point on the map or between any two points on the map.

## Key features

- Display natural hazard data
- Overlay population and infrastructure
- Estimate population within an area
- Monitor hazardous regions
- Sort infrastructure and events by proximity
- Measure distances on the map

## Recent user reviews (4 of 4)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hazards-and-population-mapper/id1092168898/reviews.md

### 3/5 — Not too Shabby

*2018-07-02*

The app isn’t too bad. I like that I can set notifications. However I’d like if the region monitor size slider was replaced with the ability to type in the size because it is a little tricky to select a specific size.

### 4/5 — great reference

*2017-12-09*

educational

### 1/5 — LAUGHABLE!

*2017-12-07*

Raging California fires and NO notice on this stupid, wasteful app. SAVE YOUR PHONE’S MEMORY AND AVOID 🤮

### 2/5 — Disappointing

*2017-05-01*

I downloaded this app mainly for active fire information, because I live in Southern California and I wasn't too keep track of fires in my area. Although there have been several wildfires since I downloaded it, and fire services address fighting three fires right now, I have yet to see a single fire labelled in the app.
Looks like a waste of storage space.

## Frequently asked questions about Hazards and Population Mapper

### What kind of natural hazard data does HazPop display?

HazPop displays recent natural hazard data including active fires from the past 48 hours, earthquake alerts from the past seven days, and yesterday's air pollution data measured from space.

### How does HazPop estimate population in an area?

HazPop provides custom population estimates based on SEDAC's Gridded Population of the World, version 4 (GPWv4) data for 2015. Users can draw a circle to get an estimate of the population and land area enclosed.

### What infrastructure is shown on the HazPop map?

The app shows the location of major dams and nuclear power plants, providing more detailed information and imagery for these facilities where available.

### Can HazPop be used for in-depth risk assessment?

No, HazPop is not intended to support in-depth risk assessment or location-specific response needs due to the coarse resolution and varying quality of some data.

### What devices does HazPop support?

HazPop is available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod devices.

### How often is HazPop updated?

The latest version of HazPop is 2.0, and it was last updated on August 10, 2019.

### What is the age rating for HazPop?

HazPop has an age rating of 4+.

### Does HazPop have ads?

No, HazPop is a free app and does not contain advertisements.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 2.0 — 2019-08-10

* The population estimation is now based on the new version 3.0 of the SEDAC Population Estimation Service (PES v3), which uses the latest version 4.11 of the SEDAC Population Count data set from the Gridded Population of the World (GPW) data collection.
* Added ability to display chart showing estimated population trend changes in 5-year intervals from 2000 to 2020.
* New imagery layer from NASA GIBS for display of global fires in the last 48 hours.

### 1.5 — 2017-12-07

* Added tectonic plate boundaries layer from USGS
* Implemented updates to comply with app security (ATS) requirements
* Upgraded the app for iOS 11

### 1.4 — 2017-08-28

- Consistent layer selection controls for base, raster, and vector data layers.
- New vector layer for retrieval and display of volcanoes.
- Fire layer changes to accurately display fires in last 2 days
- Retrieval of earthquakes now uses HTTPS.

### 1.3 — 2016-10-18

- Image layers, such as Population Density, AOD, and Fires, are now retrieved over secure HTTPS connection.
- Population estimates are now retrieved over secure HTTPS connection.
- Bug fix.

### 1.2 — 2016-09-15

- Population estimation is now based on the more up-to-date Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4) Population Count 2015 data set.
- Replaced the NASA Aqua only layer with the NASA GIBS Aqua/Terra combined Aerosol Optical Depth layer.

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## Related topics

[hazards and population mapper](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/hazards-and-population-mapper)

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-15.*