Kerala/Grants/HOTBoosterGrant2023/Proposal/Creation of a spatial flood asset database for Dharmadom local government, Kerala State
[[Category:]] [[Category:OSMF Microgrant reports by grantee|]]
Your project
This is an opportunity for you to tell us about your project. In this section we'd like to hear about your community, which local challenge your project addresses, what you plan to do and how, your sustainability plan, and how you plan to share your stories.
Describe the local challenge your project is addressing
In this section please describe in detail the challenge that your project addresses. We recommend your response be a minimum of 200 words and a maximum of 400 words.
There is no spatial flood defences dataset available in the public domain to undertake research activities related to disaster resilience/adaptation. Flood models can’t accurately forecast risk without considering flood mitigation structures. With the threat of climate change and regular tropical storms approaching, it is important to have a spatial dataset of flood defence structures including man-made and natural structures to plan climate adaptation strategies. Without proper documentation or maps, many of the natural structures such as mangroves face deterioration. It is important to note that OSM tags are not available for many flood resilient structures (flood_asset) such as mangroves. In light of this, the project propose to create a spatial flood asset database for Dharmadom Local Government. The proposed project area is a coastal body located between branches of river Ancharakandy and the Arabian Sea and is prone to climatic uncertainties affecting their socio-economic activities.
Describe your project
In this section, please provide specific details about your mapping objectives. This should include: how you will contribute to help solve the local challenge you are addressing, what you aim to achieve with funding, what volume of mapping you plan to complete and how, and the number individuals are you aiming to include in mapping activities. We recommend your response be a minimum of 200 words and a maximum of 400 words.
The objective of the project is to create a spatial flood defence layer for Dharmadom Local Government. Flood defences can be structures, buildings, or natural structures such as mangroves. Typically, grey structures are earth banks, stone and concrete walls, or sheet piling that are used to prevent or control the extent of flooding (Fluvial and Pluvial). The aim is to map/relate any asset that provides flood defence or coastal protection functions in Dharmadom Local Government in the OpenStreetMap. This includes both man-made and natural defences such as mangroves. The flood defence data can be collected and mashed up with "traditional" OSM data to create a synthetic view of the preparedness of populations and the effectiveness of the nature-based solutions and the need for its conservation. As of today, tags exist for flood-prone areas only. The project would tag the flood-prone areas of Dharmadom local government using global flood data sets and explore the possibility of proposing a new tag for flood assets in OpenStreetMap.. The funding will support the project in ways such as field visits and data collections, community consultations/meetings, remuneration for the OSM volunteers/resource persons involved etc. The project plans to include around 10-20 OSM volunteers in the activities such as desktop mapping, field data collection, cleaning and preparation of the spatial dataset. The project would also try to build the capacity of local community members to involve and contribute to OpenStreetMap.
Suggested features that can be mapped to create a spatial flood asset dataset in Dharmadom Local Government.
- Water bodies: Water bodies such as rivers, lakes, and ponds can be mapped using the `natural=water` tag. These features can play a role in flood management by storing excess water during heavy rainfall.
- Wetlands: Wetlands such as marshes and swamps can be mapped as areas using the `natural=wetland` tag. Wetlands can act as natural flood barriers by absorbing and storing large amounts of water.
- Mangroves: Mangroves can be mapped as areas using the `natural=wetland` and `wetland=mangrove` tags. Mangroves can help reduce the impact of coastal flooding by dissipating wave energy and reducing erosion.
- Flood protection infrastructures: Man-made flood protection infrastructure such as levees, dikes, and sea walls can be mapped as lines using tags such as `man_made=dyke` or `man_made=sea_wall`. These features can help prevent flooding by blocking or redirecting floodwaters.
- Drainage infrastructure: Drainage infrastructure such as storm drains, culverts, and channels can be mapped as lines using tags such as `man_made=drain` or `waterway=drain`. These features can help reduce the risk of flooding by directing excess water away from populated areas.
- Land use: Land use information such as the location of urban areas, agricultural land, and forests can be mapped as areas using tags such as `landuse=residential`, `landuse=farmland`, or `landuse=forest`. This information can help identify areas that are at higher risk of flooding due to their land use characteristics.
Describe your sustainability plan
In this section please describe how your activities will continue post-funding. If you are applying for funding to purchase equipment, explain who will store/use the equipment you purchase, and if you have long term sustainability plans for your community's development. We recommend your response be a minimum of 200 words and a maximum of 400 words. The spatial flood defence data set would be used by the project manager in modelling the flood attenuation capacity of the flood defence structures available in Dharmadom Local Government using modelling software. It will provide better results owing to the better-quality data available due to this project. This would also be treated as a model to develop for other local governments in Kerala. The spatial layers/relations for natural structures such as mangroves could be used for conservation activities by the local communities. The projects also aim to build the capacity of local community members to update information/data on OpenStreetMap. The project could also help various government as well as non-government agencies in the formulation of various local-level disaster mitigation programs.
What are your community defined project goals, and how do you define project success?
Please explain you project goals. This can include: setting goals such as "we will train X number of new mappers", "we will register as a legal entity", or "the data will be used by X", and why these goals are important to your community such as "we intent to be legally registered so that we can receive more grant funding in the future", "we intend to engage X number of women in mapping activities so that we can empower local women" or "we want to build a partnership with X so that our data will be used and trusted". We recommend your response be a minimum of 200 words and a maximum of 400 words.
The project envisages to sensitise GIS-based planning and OpenStreetMap among the local community and government officials to incorporate into their planning/conservation activities. The project also aims to include a minimum of 10 OSM volunteers in the desktop mapping and data collection activities. The team is further interested to receive support and guidance for registering as a legal entity to empower the OSM Kerala community and to build partnerships between academic and business entities. The project also widens the scope of expanding similar projects among the other 1000 local governments in Kerala in collaboration with OpenStreetMap-associated organisations.
What are your community's long term goals?
Please give describe your community's vision. This can include: where you see your community in five years time, how you want your data to be used, future partnerships you'd like to establish, or how you would like your community to grow (or not!). We recommend your response be a minimum of 200 words and a maximum of 400 words. The team would develop a vision involving building partnerships with government as well as non-government agencies to collaborate in supporting sustainable humanitarian programs/activities. The project can build partnerships with agencies such as the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority or the Kerala Institute of Local Administration for incorporating the product/data in the preparation of the Local Government Disaster Management Plan or other disasters resilient/conservation projects. The vision also envisages sensitising youth/new mappers to contribute to humanitarian causes and build the capacity of the mappers through workshops, dialogues, hackathons, conversations etc
List the tools you intend to use during your project and why
Please describe which tools you plan to use to collect, update, clean, or store you data and why. For example: "we plan to use HOT's Tasking Manager to coordinate volunteers" or "we will upload our data to X platform because..." We recommend your response be a minimum of 200 words and a maximum of 400 words.
We plan to use HOT’s Tasking Manager to coordinate the desktop mapping activities. HOT tasking Manager allows the distribution of tasks to many individual mappers. It also allows monitoring of project progress and helps to improve the consistency of the mapping (e.g. elements to cover, specific tags to use, etc.). Field-level data collection would be done using OSM mobile applications such as QGIS field app. JOSM and QGIS applications would be used for data analysis, sorting and cleaning.
Please give examples of how you will use share your stories with others. This can include: how you will publicise your news, where you will collect media content, how you will use social media channels, and if you will reach out beyond your immediate network to share your stories. We recommend your response be a minimum of 200 words and a maximum of 400 words. The team will be sharing the stories with the academic and non-academic communities through research papers, posters, talks and discussions. The team would also try to participate in various conferences, workshops and competitions happening around the globe and pitch the idea of working with OSM and the local community. We would also try to create social media pages and connects with a wider community through live videos, photographs, reels or short movies. The team would try to collaborate with institutions like the Kerala Institute of Local Administration, the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj etc to share the stories with the local governments across India.
Partnerships
Successful applications will demonstrate one or more partnerships with a local data user. Priority will be given to applications for which the data has been requested by a partnering organisation, or where the partner organisation has expressed interest in collecting the data for a specific use or intervention. Example partners include local non-government organisations (NGOs), community based organisations (CBOs), local governments, companies, universities, schools, and other academic institutions.
Describe who will use your data
It is important that the data you generate during the project is useful, and that it will be used to advance humanitarian and/or development challenges locally. In this section, please include: if the data you will be collecting has been requested by a partnering organisation, if there is an established formal relationship with the partnering organisation, if there is an existing MoU between you and the partnering organisation, and how long have you been working with the partnering organisation. If your organisation or community is going to be the data user, please describe how you will use the data, and how it ties in with your organisation's work. We recommend your response be a minimum of 200 words and a maximum of 400 words. The project manager is currently pursuing his master’s in environmental engineering and project management at the University of Leeds, UK. The collected data will be used by the project manager in his ongoing master’s dissertation which is based on Mangrove restoration using hydraulic modelling in Dharmadom Local Government. The proposed research aims to build a strong foundation for nature-based solutions for flood resilience in Kerala. The spatial flood asset database can be used to model coastal flood inundation in the Dharmadom region which supports the local government disaster mitigation activities. The dataset can be used to understand the spatial and temporal distribution of natural assets such as mangroves.
Describe any other partnerships you plan to mobilise or establish for the purpose of the project
In this section, please describe any additional partners you might be working with. If there are no additional partners (beyond the data user) this must be stated here. We recommend your response be a minimum of 200 words and a maximum of 400 words. The project would seek collaboration with water@leeds which is a team comprises of professionals from across the different departments and faculties of the University of Leeds to tackle water-related challenges at a range of scales. The project would seek International Student Volunteers through their network. Apart from that, the project would seek to involve students from Higher Education Institutes in Kerala through the University of Leeds network. The project also aims to build partnerships with Dharmadom Local Government, and Kerala Institute of Local Administration from the planning phase to the implementation phase. The project also seeks partnerships with local OSM community chapters/volunteers in the armchair and mapping exercises. The team would develop a vision involving building partnerships with government as well as non-government agencies to collaborate in supporting sustainable humanitarian programs/activities.
Inclusivity
Successful applications will include a developed strategy for the inclusion of women, girls, and marginalised groups in mapping activities. This includes the number of women, girls or marginalised groups you plan to engage, and the way in which you plan to interact with them.
How will you ensure that your project activities are inclusive?
Please describe how you will engage women and girls, or other marginalised communities in your mapping activities. Please include the number of women, girls or marginalised groups you plan to work with and how, and at which point in your activities you plan to engage them. We recommend your response be a minimum of 200 words and a maximum of 400 words. The project aims to build a database to accelerate climate adaptation activities that would help the marginalised communities in the coastal regions of Dharmadom to mitigate to climate change. The project also would bring women community volunteers for the project planning phase, desktop mapping and field-level data collection. The project could also build community resource volunteers especially girls or women to handhold the project and update information on the database on an annual basis. The project plans to ensure 50 % inclusion of women, girls or marginalised groups in the teams/ volunteers formed for the project.
Expansion
Successful applications will show how communities intend to grow community engagement. This includes a practical approach on how many new mappers you aim to recruit and how they will be involved in community activities. Priority will be given to communities that also include a plan for ongoing engagement beyond the grant period. If this is not relevant to your project, please explain why.
Explain how you plan to expand your mapping community
In this section, please include: your approach to recruiting new mappers, how will you engage new mappers, how many new members you plan to recruit, and how will you retain community members throughout the duration of project and beyond. We recommend your response be a minimum of 200 words and a maximum of 400 words. The project will seek partnership with a higher education institution to mobilise student volunteers around the Dharmadom region for the desktop and field data mapping exercises. Apart from that the project updates and volunteer invitation posters will be shared through social media channels of team members and in WhatsApp/telegram groups of the OSM Kerala community. The project aims to sustain OSM/community volunteers through a stipend or remuneration for the time/effort/skill they would invest in this project.
Collaboration
Priority will be given to applications that collaborate with other OSM communities in the region. This can be country specific or regional and can include collaboration with Youth Mappers Chapters, or members of the HOT community to help with training, validation (as examples). For support in sourcing collaborators, email microgrants@hotosm.org.
Describe other OSM communities you are already working with
This may include Youth Mappers chapters, or members of OSMF (as examples). If you are not already collaborating with an OSM community, please state this and explain how you plan to work with other communities in your project in the following question. The project manager has prior experience working with OSM Kerala community in a project titled ‘Creation of spatial asset database for pudussery grama panchayat’ in which more than 10 OSM community members participated. The project also envision attending other OSM community programs/workshop during the course of the project.
Describe other OSM communities you plan to approach, or establish relationships with, for the purpose of the project
We recommend your response be a minimum of 200 words and a maximum of 400 words.. The project manager has prior experience working with the OSM Kerala community in a project titled ‘Creation of spatial asset database for pudussery grama panchayat’ in which more than 10 OSM community members participated. The project also envisions attending other OSM community programs/workshops during the course of the project.
Project plan and budget
Priority will be given to applications that collaborate with other OSM communities in the region. This can be country specific or regional and can include collaboration with Youth Mappers Chapters, or members of the HOT community to help with training, validation (as examples). For support in sourcing collaborators, email microgrants@hotosm.org.
Budget breakdown
Give your budget breakdown here. If you would like to present your budget in a tabular format, you can use this tool to convert your spreadsheet into a wikitable and paste the code below here
| Sl No: | What do you plan to spend the money on? | Unit being purchased | Total cost for budget item (in INR) | Why is it needed? (please give as much detail as possible) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expected cost | |||||
| (in INR) | |||||
| 1 | Initial Field Visit | 2 | 1500 | 3000 | Initial field visit by two team members to understand the geographic location and initial data collection and communication |
| 2 | Desktop mapping | 10 | 1500 | 15000 | Desktop mapping with existing knowledge and literature review. Organisation of mapathon event |
| 3 | Field Data Collection | 10 | 2500 | 25000 | Field data collection to increase the quality of data |
| 4 | Community meeting | 2 | 2500 | 5000 | Community meeting for sensitisation and knowledge exchange |
| 5 | Data sorting and cleaning | 2 | 3000 | 6000 | To enhance the quality of the collected data |
| 6 | Creation of web interface | 3 | 5000 | 15000 | Creating a web interface for community level planning |
| Total | 69000 |
Project plan
Give your project plan here. If you would like to present your project plan in a tabular format, you can use this tool to convert your spreadsheet into a wikitable and paste the code below here
| Sl No: | Activity | Jun-23 | Jul-23 | Aug-23 | Sep-23 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Discussion with OpenStreetMap Community Members regarding the proposed project plan | ||||
| 2 | Meeting with Dharmadom GP Secretary for the project detailing and submission of asset register data request | ||||
| 3 | Dharmadom Grama Panchayat Board Approval for the project | ||||
| 4 | Meeting with the Dharmadom Panchayat Board Members for briefing the project and invitation for the workshop | ||||
| 5 | Workshop for the OSM Volunteers and Resource Persons | ||||
| 6 | Field level data collection | ||||
| 7 | Field level data collection & Quality Checking | ||||
| 8 | Spatial flood asset database | ||||
| 9 | Final submissions |
Declaration
By submitting this form to Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, you certify the information contained in this application is correct, and that if you are awarded a grant, you will use it only for the purposes described above. You will provide written documentation and receipts for all of your expenses to Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team to demonstrate this. You understand that the decisions made by the HOT Microgrants committee are final. Nikhil Rathy Ramachandran username:nrr1729
Endorsements
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