SEDAC's mission is to develop and operate application that support the integration of socioeconomic and earth science data and to serve as an 'information gateway' between the earth sciences and social sciences. Gridded population of the world and the global rural urban mapping project Gridded Population of the World, version 3 (GPWv3), and the Global Rural-Urban Mapping Project (GRUMP) are the latest developments in the rendering of human populations in a common geo-referenced framework, produced by the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) of the Earth Institute at Columbia University.