Humanitarian OSM Team/Open Mapping Hub - Asia Pacific/Mapping Cities for Climate/OM4R/Nepal Road Network Validation 2024

Introduction

Start Fund Nepal (SFN) and Open Mapping Hub-Asia Pacific (AP Hub) will collaborate with communities and non-profit organizations to enhance the capacity of at-risk communities through sustainable data generation and effective knowledge transfer; improving community resilience in mitigating future risks. This includes a series of co-creation planning workshops, local level workshops, and use case discussion workshops. By fostering proper interaction between knowledge producers and users, we will work together to promote accessibility of information among SFN members and other humanitarian actors. This Wikipage will cover the processes, tools, and data mapped in the project.

Background

Road networks play a crucial role in supporting economic and humanitarian activities within societies. Improved road infrastructure facilitates easier access to essential services like healthcare, education, and markets, reducing isolation and connecting villagers to neighboring communities. Furthermore, well-maintained roads enable the transportation of goods and services, spurring economic growth and entrepreneurship opportunities.

Problem Statement

Poor-quality road data in OpenStreetMap (OSM) can result in inaccurate routing, causing frustration for users who may become lost or choose inefficient routes. Additionally, during emergencies, inaccurate and inaccessible information can slow down or impede effective humanitarian aid. Moreover, if road data quality issues are not resolved, certain locations or routes may become challenging to access without reliable guidance from OSM, especially for those who need to rely on OSM - such as external humanitarian agencies without local experiences.

The decentralized nature of OSM allows actors such as humanitarian agencies and local governments to reflect rapidly varying situations like accessibility, closure, surface quality etc. with the continuous involvement of local stakeholders in regions of interest.

However, currently, knowledge on OSM, including remote mapping and utilization of OSM datasets are still limited, due to reasons such as a lack of prerequisite on OSM data and a lack of information on the impact of OSM datasets. Hence it is important to build the community’s capacities in leveraging OSM as a tool in their decision-making processes, including to use the data to support development and humanitarian efforts in the remote hills of Nepal.

Project Rationale

The collaboration between SFN and AP Hub is grounded in the shared goal of leveraging technical expertise and OSM data to proactively address and reduce future risks within vulnerable communities. Our initiative focuses on enhancing the quality of OSM road mapping data, particularly in routing, within three priority districts. By addressing data quality issues in under-resourced areas of Nepal, we aim to improve navigation, accessibility, and information availability for economic and humanitarian activities.

Piloting in Karnali Province

The rugged geography in Nepal’s Karnali Province creates significant challenges for travel and transportation - potentially impeding humanitarian aid delivery and economic activities in peacetime. Moreover, the region already faced significant issues which further exacerbated the humanitarian impact of the 2023 earthquake in Karnali. Hence, the Karnali Province will be a critical pilot location, allowing the project to demonstrate how enhancing the road network data in remote areas like Kalikot, Mugu, and Jumla will be crucial for improving accessibility, fostering economic development, and promoting social integration. Furthermore, the region’s experience in developing the “Multi-Hazard Health and Nutrition Disaster Preparedness and Response Plan”, which was critical in Karnali’s disaster response, will be an important value-add to delivering the project.

Project Objectives

The project aims to achieve the following:

• Implement an immediate strategy to rectify inaccuracies and address gaps in OpenStreetMap road network data using a systematic approach by coordinating remote mapping and remote validation activity in the OpenStreetMap ecosystem."
• Focus on mapping and validating major road networks (100% of trunk and primary roads) and significant settlement regions within the three priority settlements.
• Collaborate with communities and stakeholders to transfer knowledge and enhance capacity through sustainable knowledge generation.
• Prioritize critical sections of the national road network to provide immediate benefits.

Who can use our Maps?

The primary objective of Road Network Validation is to improve accessibility of accurate information on roads to the public, especially to communities who are reliant on these routes to make travel across the area. The following are targeted users of the improved and validated road network data:

Contact

Feel free to reach out to the AP Hub (openmappinghub.ap@hotosm.org) for any additional information you need. We will be more than happy to assist you!

Project Design

The following is a diagrammatic representation of the project workflow:

Remote Mapping and Data Validation Campaigns

Remote mapping and validation campaigns will be launched on Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT)’s Tasking Manager (TM) to map the areas of interest. This will serve as a foundation to evaluate existing needs, gaps, and challenges with local stakeholders.

Mobilization of OSM Experts and Volunteers

To ensure the project's localization, national OSM experts will be mobilized for support, along with volunteers from the OSM community coordinated by AP Hub. Additionally, AP Hub will utilize its global pool of OSM community members to aid in the open-mapping of the missing road network. This comprehensive approach guarantees that the project effectively addresses local needs and data quality concerns, with national OSM experts lending their expertise to support validation efforts.

Open-Mapping Gurus

The AP Hub with the Open Mapping Gurus, co-created the Open Mapping Guru Project (OM Guru) to catalyze a regional network of dedicated and experienced OSM contributors, champions, and mappers to support localized and regional community building through recognition, incentivization, skill sharing, capacity development, creation of training materials, and diverse opportunities to make meaningful contributions. The expert group of OM Guru were used in the validation of the road networks that were mapped by creating the HOT TM Projects.

Field Coordinators

The Coordinators are local experts, who will serve as the primary liaison between volunteers and stakeholders on the ground and AP Hub. Their role is to ensure seamless communication, efficient project management and operations, and alignment to broader organizational objectives.

Technical Workshops

In parallel to the mapping and validation campaigns, technical workshops will be implemented for local stakeholders. These workshops will be critical in building local capacities in OSM, empowering local stakeholders to appropriate it for their needs.

The workshops will be conducted in a participatory manner, allowing local stakeholders to co-create the syllabus as we evaluate the existing gaps and needs. Moreover, the workshops will be conducted in a hands-on fashion, allowing participants to contribute to the open-mapping campaigns and practice as they learn.

Planning and Co-creation Workshops

The objective of the Co-creation Planning Workshops is for stakeholders to (1) develop a baseline understanding of the state of mapping in the districts; and (2) co-create a localized plan for open-mapping initiatives.

Local Capacity Building Workshops

The objective of the Local Capacity Building Workshops is to develop the capacities of local stakeholders in carrying out open-mapping initiatives, validation of data, analysis of data, and dissemination of data with the tools such as Tasking Manager, field papers, mobile data collection tools and printed maps. As part of the workshop, participants will also have the chance to (1) engage in hands-on mapping activities, (2) explore advance mapping techniques,  (3) networking with peers, (4) access additional resources, and (5) implement their learnings as they go through the training and apply the applications of map and map data in real life.

Data Processing and Analysis

On completion of the mapping and validation campaigns, AP Hub will lead processing and cleaning of the data with support from OM Gurus and the Field Coordinators.

Thereafter, the OSM data will run through another round of validations, including field validation.

Data Testing

Navigation simply means determining one's current position, identifying the destination, and plotting a course to reach that destination efficiently and safely. The concept is to utilize the previously mapped OSM road data and uploaded critical infrastructure data in the three districts to establish routes from and to any location. Eventually, the local community can depend on this data for navigation purposes and also contribute to its enhancement by editing OSM.

Use Case Evaluation

The objective of the Use Case Evaluation Workshops is to evaluate the usefulness of the tools participants have been trained in and identify next steps in employing the validated OSM data.

Data Model

The following table covers the data model for the improved and validated road network data:

Update soon

How to get involved?

Learning to Map

To start contributing to OpenStreetMap, please refer to a simple-to-use beginners guide called LearnOSM (learnosm.org) developed by the community. It is a series of quick lessons that will guide any new user through setting up an account to beginning mapping.

Edit the Map

Tasking Manager

The Tasking Manager project aims to coordinate public efforts to add OSM road data in Karnali and make it publicly accessible. We've set up our own mapping project while also working with local initiatives in the same area to avoid duplicating work. This approach helps streamline efforts and make the most of available resources for mapping in the region.For the purpose of this project, we are using the specific hashtag #SNRMNepal along with a human-readable comment.

Project	Name	Organization Name
#14423	OSM Data Mapping and Validation of Tilagufa Rural Municipality	Youth Innovation Lab
#14424	OSM Data Mapping and Validation of Naraharinath Rural Municipality	Youth Innovation Lab
#14425	OSM Data Mapping and Validation of Khandachakra Municipality	Youth Innovation Lab
#14898	Mapping and Updating of Road and Paths in Jumla District, Nepal	Open Mapping Hub Asia-Pacific
#15639	Mapping and Updating of Road and Paths in Mugu District, Nepal	Open Mapping Hub Asia-Pacific
#15638	Mapping and Updating of Road and Paths in Kalikot District, Nepal	Open Mapping Hub Asia-Pacific

The Tasking Manager is a tool that divides large mapping tasks into small sections to make them easier for volunteers to manage. The Tasking Manager also includes background information on the locale to be mapped, as well as information about what kind of data is needed (road, schools, etc., and how to recognize them). Volunteers can contribute directly to current activities through HOT's Tasking Manager.

MapRoulette

We're asking people from all over, including the Nepal local community, to help improve OpenStreetMap (OSM) road data quality in Karnali province. By joining remotely, anyone can spot and fix mistakes in the road network on OSM.

MapRoulette is an application for OpenStreetMap (OSM) that provides microtasks to users to complete in a short amount of time, mostly under 5 minutes. Tasks are grouped into larger challenges that are completed by the community. Map Roulette is largely used to crowdsource and organize tasks for improving the accuracy and completeness of OpenStreetMap data.

Currently, there's a MapRoulette challenge targeting road data quality problems in Karnali. These issues, like disconnected roads and overlapping highways with buildings, can mess up routing. Fixing them ensures better navigation accuracy for users relying OSM data.

Project	Name
44315	Fixing Data Quality Error of Highway in Karnali Province

Testing The Map Data

Routing Test

Testing routing in pilot areas with mobile phone applications that utilize OSM data, such as Organic Maps, Maps.Me, OSMAnd, etc., to assess the suitability of mapped roads for navigation

Routing services (in some countries called navigation services) help people get from one place to another. OpenStreetMap data includes information for routing by many modes including car, foot, bicycle and horse. There are many offline, embedded and web-based routing services using OpenStreetMap data.