Building Mapping Myanmar

From OpenStreetMap Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Purpose

To better understand buildings in Myanmar, it is important to consider both how they appear in satellite imagery and their actual conditions on the ground. Buildings in rural areas are usually scattered and stand alone, often within fenced compounds that may include small huts or storage units. In contrast, urban buildings are densely packed, and tall structures can cause distortions in satellite imagery, making it difficult to identify individual roofs. These differences affect how easily buildings can be mapped. This understanding is especially helpful for Myanmar OSM mappers, as it can guide them in choosing suitable mapping techniques based on the area type. With this knowledge, mappers can digitize buildings more accurately and efficiently, improving the quality of building data in OpenStreetMap.

Building Mapping & Tagging

These tags are used to identify individual buildings or groups of connected buildings in Myanmar. While we plan to expand building types in the future, Myanmar currently lacks basic building footprint data. For now, we are focusing on mapping standard building footprints along with the following key identification tags. This information is crucial for local humanitarian organizations, as it helps improve access to affected areas. In the absence of dedicated shelters, schools and monasteries are often used as emergency shelters during disasters.

Key Value Comment Photo
building=monastery Monastery A building that was built as a monastery or religious building should be tagged as such. It is usually related to Buddhism in Myanmar. Local people sometimes use monasteries as disaster shelters or community gathering centers. Use the outline of the entire monastery area and tag it as “landuse=religious”. In addition, you may find small to medium size stupa inside monastery compound, used "man_made=stupa", "religious=buddhist" & map as circle feature. See more tips to this page [Landuse Mapping Myanmar]
Monastery in Myanmar
building=school School A building that was built to be a school should be tagged as such. If the building has a specific use, like a sports hall, it should be tagged for that purpose. If there is an active school, use "amenity=school" on the outline of the entire school area. Sometimes, schools are also used as disaster shelters or community gathering centers in Myanmar. See more to this page [Landuse Mapping Myanmar]
Rural School in Myanmar
building=hospital Hospital A hospital providing in-patient medical treatment. Can also map the hospital compound as "amenity=hospital". See more to this page [Landuse Mapping Myanmar]
Hospital in Myanmar
building=yes Yes For default, generic term for building

There are additional building classifications that have not yet been included. myOSM team will continue to update and expand the list of tags in the future to align with the Myanmar OSM building classification system. For reference, the original English versions of building classifications can be found on the OpenStreetMap Wiki at: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Buildings.

Rural Building

In rural areas of Myanmar, houses are usually spread out and stand-alone inside a fenced compound. Sometimes there is a small hut or storage building in the same area. In some cases, one family may have two or more buildings in their compound. Some settlements are dense clusters, while others are located far from the main settlement area (see Fig02). These buildings are easy to identify and can be mapped easily, even by beginner mappers. Approximately 67.89% of the total population resides in rural areas. You may encounter more settlements like these. See examples in Fig01 and Fig02 below.

Fig01: Rural settlement condition of Myanmar.
Fig02: Rural settlement located far from the main cluster.

Urban Building

About 32.11% of the people in Myanmar live in urban areas. In these places, buildings are close together. Some buildings are tall, and it can be hard to tell which roof belongs to which house. It's also difficult to see fences and boundaries clearly. Because of this, satellite images sometimes show tall buildings in a distorted way, which makes it hard to see the nearby buildings.

This is especially true in large cities like Yangon, Mandalay, and Sagaing. These areas are better mapped by people with intermediate or advanced mapping skills. However, smaller cities like Thahton, Hpa-an, and Kalaw have fewer tall buildings, and the buildings are more spread out. This makes them easier to digitize, even for less experienced mappers.

Fig01: Urban State/Region Level such as Yangon, Mandalay & Sagaing.
Fig02: Urban District/Township Level such as Thahton, Hpa-an, Kalaw.


Building Mapping Tips

myOSM recommends using JOSM as the main mapping editor because it is flexible and has many useful tools. One of the best tools in JOSM is the "BuildingTools" plugin. It is especially helpful for drawing square-shaped buildings quickly and easily.

Monastery Mapping Tips

Best to map Monastery in Myanmar. Mapped the whole monastery area using the tag "landuse=religious". The main monastery building, which is usually the biggest one in the compound, is tagged as "building=monastery". Other buildings inside the monastery area are tagged as "building = yes". For stupas, draw them in a circle shape and use the tags "man_made=stupa" and "religious=buddhist". See in Tip03.

Tip03: Mapping Tips for Monastery in Myanmar

School & Pitch Mapping Tips

Best to map School in Myanmar. Mapped the whole school area using the tag "amenity=school". The main school building is tagged as "building=school", and the other buildings are tagged as "building=yes". Most schools in Myanmar also have a football field or an activity/assembly area. These are mapped and tagged as "leisure=pitch". See in Tip04.

Tip04: Mapping Tips for School in Myanmar

Hospital Mapping Tips

Best to map Hospital in Myanmar. Mapped the whole hospital compound using the tag "amenity = hospital". The main hospital building should be tagged as "building = hospital" & the rest of the building goes under "building = yes". See in Tip05.

Tip05: Mapping Tips for Hospital in Myanmar

Building Footprint size bigger (or) smaller?

Digitize smaller (or) the same size as actual building footprint. Don't map - bigger than actual building roof. See in Tip01.

Tip01: Not Bigger than actual building

Single Hut/House

Leaves a single house/hut sitting inside fields which are more likely temporary living house/huts. Please don't digitize those! See in Tip02.

Tip02: Building/Hut Inside Field or Orchard

Additional attribute.

source = your reference imagery or data (e.g ESRI, Bing, Mapbox, Custom etc.)

myOSM's JOSM Useful Mapping Tips

Use the following shortcut to easily map on JOSM. Which will help mapper to quick & more accurate building data.

  • Use the keyboard shortcut “A” to make an easy node/digitize.
  • Use the keyboard shortcut “S” to activate the select tool.
  • Press “B” in Keyboard & click one corner of the building, then drag to the opposite corner. (Building Tool Plugin)
  • if same size buildings are scatter, digitize one building footprint & copy (“Ctrl + C”) & paste (“Ctrl + V”) it on the building
  • If you want to “match (or) aligns” with existing building footprint, select existing building footprint using shortcut “S”, then press “B” and drag to one corner (Align with other building)
  • If you want to draw complex building footprint, digitize multiple building footprint & combine (“Shift + J”)
  • Press “Ctrl” to avoid snapping to other features such as road, landuse etc.
  • press “Q” for a quick rectangle/square.
  • “Shift + Ctrl” to rotate the building features.
  • "Ctrl + Alt" to Shrink/Enlarge (Resize) features.
  • Use the keyboard shortcut “X” to extrude, four side rectangle to orthogonal building.