MyOSM

Welcome to the Myanmar OpenStreetMap Community

myOSM is a community of OpenStreetMap (OSM) contributors, users and supporters who come together to help grow and improve the OpenStreetMap — especially for Myanmar — for everyone. As there is no other active Myanmar OSM group, we aim to represent all mappers in Myanmar as well as the interests of the map itself.

We’re an open and welcoming community, who want to share information about OpenStreetMap and about ourselves through this Wiki. Whether you're just curious or already passionate about open data and crowd mapping, we hope you find something useful here. We’d love for you to become part of the OpenStreetMap family—and maybe even join our myOSM community!

OpenStreetMap in a Nutshell

What is OpenStreetMap?

OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a global, collaborative project where individuals and organizations contribute to a free, editable map of the world. It is rich in local knowledge and can offer an incredible level of detail that grows every day and can be updated by anyone. While OpenStreetMap is already highly useful simply as a map, it becomes even more powerful when treated as a database.

Supported by everyone, used by everyone

What if a map could be built with the collective knowledge of thousands of individuals and organisations? With OpenStreetMap it can. The result is a rich, ever-evolving map that reflects the efforts and expertise of a truly diverse community. From individuals who add local knowledge to the map in their home-town, to organisations from across the public and private sector who add information collected from their day to day activities, OpenStreetMap includes the full range of contributors. These same organisations, and many more, also benefit from using the map and the underlying data. From web and print maps to data analysis and mobile apps, from disaster response and sustainable development to research, education, navigation, business, and conservation—OpenStreetMap is being used in all kinds of places and for all kinds of purposes.

Free from restrictions

Most maps you think of as free actually have legal or technical restrictions on their use, holding back people and organisations from using them in creative, productive, or unexpected ways. They are often also supported by advertising. OpenStreetMap is different – we believe that you should be able to copy, distribute, transmit, and adapt our data with minimal fuss. With thousands of contributors keeping the map up to date, OpenStreetMap doesn’t rely on advertising. What appears on the map reflects what’s actually on the ground—not what’s been paid for. In places like Myanmar, where government map data may not be or where commercial providers show little interest, OSM often becomes the most reliable and accessible source of geographic information.

Adopted from https://osmuk.org

myOSM - The Myanmar OpenStreetMap community

We’re a small but growing group, mostly from Myanmar, with diverse backgrounds—students, geographers, researchers, foresters, teachers, IT professionals, and small business owners —all brought together by a shared passion for mapping and open data. We want to help overcome the challenges of accessing fit-for-purpose map data and contribute to a better Myanmar.

We are an open and welcoming community, whose aims include

• To share knowledge about the OSM project- especially to a Myanmar audience to map, add and improve data in OSM - especially to make OSM a dependable large scale base map for every part of Myanmar
• To grow the number of OSM contributors - especially through outreach via social media, open mapping workshops, crowd-mapping events and collaborating with OSM supporting organizations with their wide reaching networks and experience
• To grow the impact of OSM contributors - especially through trainings, stipend programs, organized mapping campaigns, identification and import of suitable datasets, Myanmar specific guidance
• To improve data quality and usability of the Myanmar OSM map - especially through systematic data validation campaigns, supporting Myanmar OSM mapping guidelines and upskilling OSM contributors.
• To make OSM more useful for Myanmar - especially through reaching out to humanitarian and development initiatives and organizations and listening to their map needs and suggestions and trying to adjust myOSM's activities to match those needs
• To build a strong self-sustaining Myanmar OSM community, learning from and helping each other, providing opportunities for active members and becoming stronger and more organized as the OpenStreetMap in Myanmar grows better and better and is adopted by more and more users.

We hope we can help building a vibrant and skilled community of mappers and OSM users across Myanmar connected with groups elsewhere, make the OpenStreetMap for Myanmar even more complete, accurate and impactful and thus help leverage the power of OSM for Myanmar.

If our motivations, goals and activities resonate with you, and you want to become an active part of our myOSM community, get in contact with us.

Contact and outreach

Facebook

myOSM frequently shares useful information, news, mapping activations and events via the Myanmar OpenStreetMap Facebook page. Some of us are also admins for that facebook group. Visit and follow the Myanmar OSM Facebook Group to learn more about OpenStreetMap in Myanmar and to keep up-to-date.

Viber

myOSM manages a viber group where Myanmar OSM contributors can exchange information, coordinate activities and ask for help and guidance. Join the myOSM viber group

Email

For any inquiries or support you can get in touch with us via our email info.myosm@gmail.com

Support us

If you have some time and passion for mapping, please sign up for an OSM account and start mapping where you feel you can contribute most or help completing one of of mapping campaigns we announce via the HOT Tasking Manager

We also hope you find the work we do useful and inspiring. If you do and you want to become and active part of our myOSM volunteer community please reach out to us, best via email to info.myosm@gmail.com.

Meeting our aims requires time as well as money. You can also support us, and particularly our our stipend program with some donation. Please reach out to us via email if you want to help us with some small funding that would allow us to expand our stipend program to more Myanmar OSM volunteers and support the mapping of important features to make OSM becoming a dependable base map anywhere in Myanmar.

myOSM activities

Mapping campaigns

While everyone can—and should—contribute to OpenStreetMap (OSM) by editing the map to improve it—such as by adding your favorite restaurants and cafés, naming roads or mapping missing ones in your neighborhood, or tracing a hiking trail you recently explored—systematic mapping takes this a step further. It brings together many mappers to collaboratively focus on mapping a set of priority features in a specific area. This approach helps create reliable and comprehensive data in a short period of time—for example, mapping all roads, rivers, or settlements within a township or ward, or tracing building footprints and health or education facilities in an area affected by a natural disaster.

Most of myOSM’s mapping campaigns aim to bring together OSM volunteers to make the OSM map a dependable large-scale basemap, especially for humanitarian response and sustainable development efforts in Myanmar.

While OSM allows for incredibly detailed mapping, our campaigns typically focus on key features essential for reliable basemaps—such as roads and railways, settlement locations and built-up areas, rivers and streams, mountain peaks, named islands, and critical infrastructure. This includes health and education facilities, energy infrastructure, monasteries (which often serve as shelters in times of need), sports grounds, and other vital features.

In the event of natural disasters, we work to support emergency response and recovery efforts by mobilizing OSM volunteers—both in Myanmar and around the world—to quickly map critical data that can assist organizations leading the response. This often includes features such as building footprints, flood-prone infrastructure, or other requested elements that can be feasibly mapped by predominantly remote OSM volunteers using current high-resolution satellite imagery. We manage and coordinate many of our mapping campaigns using the HOT Tasking Manager Here you can also explore and join active mapping campaigns launched by myOSM.

Examples of myOSM mapping campaigns published via the HOT tasking manager.

We manage and coordinate many of our mapping campaigns using the HOT Tasking Manager Here you can also explore and join active mapping campaigns launched by myOSM.

The HOT Tasking Manager enables us to distribute mapping tasks to a larger number of contributors, including mappers from around the world, as long as they have the necessary skills and experience. It also allows us to monitor progress and maintain mapping consistency through its validation system. Each completed task is reviewed by an experienced OSM mapper—either a member of the myOSM validator group or a validator from one of myOSM’s partner organizations.

For our OSM edits (changesets) we usually include the hashtags #myOSM to mark and later identify contributions done by myOSM to the OSM database.

Myanmar 2025 earthquake response mapping

Following the devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck central Myanmar in late March 2025— with its epicenter near the Sagaing/Mandalay region—myOSM with some modest support kindly provided by CDE Myanmar, rapidly scaled up its efforts to improve OpenStreetMap (OSM) data for the most affected areas.

For more information, please visit the myOSM Myanmar 2025 Earthquake Response Mapping wiki page [link coming soon]

Settlement location mapping

In 2024, with the kind permission by MIMU, myOSM began the careful import of MIMU’s Myanmar settlement P-code dataset into OpenStreetMap (OSM), with the goal of systematically adding all known village locations with their Myanmar names and English transliterations, alternative names, and the corresponding MIMU P-code where applicable. Each village point is manually reviewed, positional inaccuracies corrected. Pre-existing OSM village data is also checked and incorporated to maintain consistency and avoid duplication.

As of April 2025, we have successfully completed this mapping process for over 100 townships.

For more information, please visit the myOSM Myanmar Settlement location mapping campaign wiki page [link coming soon]

Road network mapping

In 2024, myOSM initiated the ambitious task of mapping and consistently tagging all roads across Myanmar. This nationwide effort aims to create the country’s first comprehensive and dependable large-scale road dataset—covering all roads and most major permanent tracks and bringing the OSM map a significant step closer to be a dependable basemap for every part of Myanmar. Following OpenStreetMap’s mapping guidelines, the resulting data meets a minimum scale of 1:10,000, with road classifications aligned to the OSM Myanmar Highway Tagging Guide

myOSM's stipends are playing a key role in this campaign. As of April 2025, nearly 100 townships have been fully mapped—though some are still awaiting validation.

For more information, please visit the myOSM Myanmar road network mapping campaign wiki page [link coming soon]

Settlement area mapping

In 2024, myOSM launched a nationwide mapping campaign to comprehensively map all built-up areas across Myanmar, with a focus on settlement areas. This ambitious effort aims to produce the country’s first large-scale, reliable dataset of built-up areas—covering all settlements and most other developed zones—bringing OpenStreetMap (OSM) significantly closer to becoming a dependable basemap for every corner of Myanmar.

While detailed land cover classification—distinguishing residential, commercial, industrial, religious, and other land uses—is encouraged in OSM, mapping at this level of detail across the entire country exceeds the current capacity of the Myanmar OSM community. Therefore, myOSM has adopted a phased approach:

• Tier 1: Map all built-up areas regardless of specific land use (current campaign).
• Tier 2: Add more detailed land use classifications at a later stage.

That said, contributors are encouraged to apply more specific classifications where features are clearly identifiable—such as religious compounds, large industrial zones, or university campuses.

The myOSM stipends are playing a vital role in this campaign. As of April 2025, over 100 townships have been fully mapped—though some are still awaiting validation

For more information, please visit the myOSM settlement area mapping campaign wiki page [link coming soon]

School mapping

Schools and educational facilities are vital community infrastructure and serve as important local landmarks. MIMU has kindly granted myOSM permission to use the Formal Sector School Location 2019 dataset as a reference for mapping school locations, names, and education levels in OpenStreetMap (OSM). In April 2025, myOSM began systematically adding schools to OSM, primarily using this dataset along with satellite imagery to identify and fill gaps in existing OSM school data. Where visible in the imagery, we also aim to map associated features such as sports grounds and building footprints.

As of April 2025, this effort has been focused on selected priority townships in central Myanmar. Depending on the availability of skilled and experienced OSM contributors, we plan to expand this mapping initiative to additional townships across the country.

For more information, please visit the myOSM Myanmar School mapping campaign wiki page [link coming soon]

Hospital mapping

Hospitals and clinics are vital facilities for communities and serve as key landmarks. CDE Myanmar has kindly granted myOSM permission to use the Public Hospitals in Myanmar as of 2020 dataset as a reference for mapping hospital and clinic locations, along with their names and size classification, in OpenStreetMap (OSM). In December 2024, myOSM piloted the mapping of hospitals using the above-mentioned dataset in combination with satellite imagery to enhance OSM’s health facility data. Where visible, we also aim to map related features such as hospital grounds and building footprints

As of April 2025, this effort has been focused on selected townships affected by the 2024 floods and 2025 earthquake. Depending on the availability of skilled and experienced OSM contributors, we plan to expand this mapping initiative to more townships across the country.

For more information, please visit the myOSM Hospital mapping campaign wiki page [link coming soon]

River and stream mapping

Rivers, streams, and other waterways are critical landscape features. They hold significant importance on any topographic map and are essential for analyses related to flood and erosion risks, transportation, accessibility, agriculture, and food security.

While river data can be generated automatically from Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), the absence of free high-resolution DEMs often results in coarse and inaccurate representations, which are frequently unfit for precise applications.

To address this, we launched a dedicated initiative focused on mapping rivers, streams, transport and irrigation canals, lakes, reservoirs, and other water bodies identifiable through high-resolution imagery. We also piloted a process where the resulting water body data is enriched through local knowledge and supplemented by free topographic maps—albeit sometimes outdated—to add names in English and Myanmar language.

As of May 2025, this effort has been concentrated on selected townships in the southeast of Myanmar. Looking forward, there are plans to expand this meticulous but crucial mapping initiative to additional townships across the country, enhancing waterway data for better analysis and planning.

For more information, please visit the myOSM water body mapping campaign wiki page [link coming soon]

Mapping events

Solidarity Mappathon for Mandalay and Sagaing Building mapping

Trainings and workshops

myOSM is dedicated to building a strong and active OpenStreetMap (OSM) community in Myanmar by providing a wide range of OSM-focused training sessions. These training programs aim to refresh and strengthen the skills of existing OSM members while equipping new contributors with the knowledge needed to map effectively. This capacity-building effort plays a vital role in making OSM a reliable resource for humanitarian organizations and other users who depend on accurate, up-to-date maps.

The training sessions not only impart practical skills for mapping in OSM but also broaden participants' understanding of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), open data, and collaborative mapping. Additionally, these programs help foster networking opportunities, building connections among participants that strengthen the local OSM community. The acquired skills are highly valued, enriching participants' CVs and enhancing their prospects for study and employment opportunities.

The training programs provided by myOSM are free of charge, with some being open access, allowing anyone to join. For updates on upcoming sessions, keep an eye on the Myanmar OSM Facebook page.

To further encourage the growth of OSM in Myanmar, myOSM also offers customized training sessions upon request. These tailored programs are designed to meet the needs of specific groups, such as university students, OSM volunteer groups, and organizations interested in learning about OSM, mapping and open data. If you are interested in participating in one of our sessions or wish to discuss a custom training for your group or organization, feel free to reach out to us.

Stipend programs

The creation, enhancement, and updating of OSM data primarily depend on the manual digitization of features by contributors using tools specifically designed for OSM, such as JOSM, iD-editor, and Rapid-editor. Satellite imagery and local knowledge are key data sources, while other reference data, when permitted for use in OSM, can also be valuable additions. However, even the process of importing existing GIS data into OSM is usually only partially automated and still requires time-consuming manual effort.

Thus, to advance OSM to become a dependable map for Myanmar, having active OSM contributors with the necessary skills and commitment is key.

myOSM is seeking to mobilize and upskill Myanmar OSM contributors through its “myOSM Mapper Stipend Programs". OSM overwhelmingly relies on unpaid volunteers, often organized through the OSM community. Especially in more developed countries, the OSM community is large and every day thousands of volunteers spend some of their free time editing and improving OSM. Nevertheless, in many developing countries, the OSM community is much smaller and local people don't have the luxury to spend much time contributing to OSM while coping with the day-to-day challenges and trying to make ends meet. This is reflected in the significantly poorer coverage and data quality of OSM in countries such as Myanmar.

In Myanmar, the development of an OSM contributor community began late, as widespread internet access only became available after 2014. Moreover, map literacy in Myanmar only began to improve significantly starting after 2011, driven by the arrival of international companies and organizations, the inclusion of GIS-related subjects in university curricula, and the easing of restrictions on maps as the military junta transitioned to a civilian government and the spread of ride-hailing services like Grab.

However, in the few years leading up to the tragic events of 2021, Myanmar experienced a growing OSM community and significant improvements in OSM data, last but not least through various CDE Myanmar supported initiatives.

The 2021 events and the ensuing years of crisis and armed conflict abruptly brought this to a halt. Poverty levels more than doubled, millions got displaced, hundreds of thousands, esp. young and educated fled the country or joined resistance movements, thousands of former government staff who joined the civil disobedience movement largely went into hiding, donors, international and civil society organizations scaled down their operations or retreated from Myanmar completely, such as the Yangon based technology seed accelerator Phandeeyar who was for a while a focal point of the OSM community in Myanmar.

As such, in 2024, there was no active OSM community left in Myanmar and very few contributions to OSM by Myanmar OSM members.

To make OSM a more dependable map in this period of crisis and conflict, a need expressed by many stakeholders, myOSM was looking for ways to reactivate and expand the Myanmar OSM community and significantly improve OSM data while acknowledging the many challenges young Myanmar people face.

Those myOSM Mapper Stipend Programs are a key initiative aimed at overcoming the challenges of maintaining active mapping contributions in Myanmar. Recognizing the importance of continuous engagement and skill development, myOSM dedicates the majority of its limited funding to organize these stipend programs.

Through the program, active and motivated OSM contributors in Myanmar can apply to participate in a series of training sessions, OSM challenges, and mapping tasks. These activities include contributing to myOSM mapping initiatives, conducting OSM data validation, and even providing OSM training sessions to others.

In exchange for their commitment and contributions, stipends gain valuable new skills, contribute to impactful mapping projects that support local development and humanitarian efforts and expand their networks within the Myanmar GIS community. Additionally, participants receive a small stipend to help cover expenses such as internet costs and to acknowledge their dedication the time they invest in mapping and training efforts.

We always seek partnerships to raise funds to allow more such stipends. If you are an individual or organization and want to allow us to expand the myOSM stipend program to allow more Myanmar OSM volunteers to benefit from it, please get in touch with us.

2024 - OSM Mapping stipends

In 2024, myOSM with some generous support from CDE Myanmar, run a myOSM stipend program with a focus to reactivate Myanmar OSM mappers, attract new OSM contributors, to upskill them and to significantly advance the myOSM road and settlement mapping initiatives.

In total, myOSM has supported 22 stipends over periods ranging from 2 to 6 months, revitalizing the community of active OSM contributors in Myanmar. This initiative has sparked new interest and momentum in the Myanmar OSM community, expanding membership both within the country and in neighboring regions where many young Myanmar nationals have sought refuge or new opportunities. Furthermore, they helped adding thousands of kilometers of roads and waterways, thousands of building footprints as well as settlement areas for several state and regions to OSM.

2025 - Mapping Enthusiasts stipend program

With a small but active OSM community reactivated, in 2025, myOSM initiated a new stipend program with the aim of

1. increasing the amount of Myanmar OSM contributors &
2. upskilling stipends in their capabilities to do mapping, validation and trainings
3. create interest, esp. among Myanmar's youth to learn about and join OSM, start mapping and quality for a stipend though .

in 2025 myOSM is offering 3 stipend types of each 3 month duration, that each applicant can participate in once receiving a stipend of 50$/month. Main selection criteria include OSM experience and activity and statement of motivation. Additionally some extra criteria apply aiming to have a diverse (geographically, gender, educational background, ect.) group of stipends.

• Map Aficionado
  • Trainings and OSM challenges focused on mapping new features in OSM
  • Run in Q1 and Q2 in 2025
• Map Sheriff
  • Trainings and OSM challenges focused on mapping as well as validating/quality control of OSM data
  • Started in Q2 in 2025
• Map Influencer
  • Trainings and OSM challenges focused on mapping as well as providing OSM trainings and outreach/social media to share knowledge about and promote OSM
  • Planned in Q4 in 2025

In the first quarter (Q1), myOSM supported eight stipends, followed by thirteen stipends in the second quarter (Q2).

2025 Emergency Mapping stipends

Following the devastating magnitude 7.7–7.9 earthquake that struck central Myanmar in late March 2025, myOSM launched efforts to support emergency response and recovery activities through enhanced OpenStreetMap (OSM) data. In response to the urgent need for detailed mapping of critical infrastructure—such as roads, building footprints, village locations, built-up areas, health facilities, schools, monasteries, and other key features—myOSM released a 50$ Emergency Mapping Stipend, awarded to three of the most active and reliable OSM community members in Myanmar for a duration of 2 months. This stipend served as to cover their internet costs and as a gratitude for dedicating substantial time mapping and validating features in the most affected areas.

Myanmar OSM resources

Learning resources

Since its humble beginnings in 2006, OpenStreetMap (OSM) has grown into the world’s largest and most widely used open mapping platform. The over 10 million registered users and around 300,000 active contributors have created a map and database impressive detail—especially in countries with vibrant and active mapping communities.

The relatively recent access to the internet by the wider population combined with limited access to education in GIS and mapping-related fields until about a decade ago, means that OSM had a late start in Myanmar. The local mapping community remains small, and data coverage and quality are not yet on par with many other countries.

Because the strength of OSM lies in its community—the thousands of volunteers who add to and improve the map every day—expanding, strengthening and upskilling the community of Myanmar OSM users and contributors is essential.

To help make OSM more accessible and appealing to local users, myOSM and CDE Myanmar have translated high-quality OSM training materials into the Myanmar language and made them publicly available.

UN Mappers OSM learning modules

myOSM with support by CDE Myanmar, translated the UN Mappers OSM training guides into Myanmar language.

The original version of the 9 modules in English language (and soon also our Myanmar translation) can be accessed via the UN Maps Learning Hub (https://mappers.un.org/learning/)

To make access even more convenient, our Myanmar translations can also be accessed through the Seepuuyar learning platform (https://www.seepuuyar.com/osm-unmaps-guides/), without the need for registration.

LearnOSM.org

Although developed several years ago, the training materials on learnOSM.org remain an excellent resource for learning about OpenStreetMap and how to contribute using the JOSM and iD editors.

Most of the training modules are available in Myanmar language via the LearnOSM website (https://learnosm.org/my) thanks to translations by CDE Myanmar and FFI.

Myanmar tagging guides

In OpenStreetMap, “tagging” is how mappers describe and add detail to features on the map—such as identifying whether a building is a school, hospital, or shop, or whether a line represents a road, a river and wether this road is a small lane or a major highway. Tagging allows contributors to include rich, detailed information about each feature, helping to define its purpose, type, and characteristics.

Using correct and consistent tags is essential because OpenStreetMap is built by a global community of contributors. Clear tagging ensures that data from different users fits together reliably, making the map useful for a wide range of purposes—from navigation and planning to disaster response. It also allows software and apps that rely on OSM data to correctly interpret, display, and use the information.

The OSM community generally follows the tagging guidelines outlined in the Map features section of the OSM Wiki. However, since these global guidelines are meant to be applied worldwide, they often leave room for interpretation when mapping features in the local context of a specific country.

To address this, many national and regional OSM communities have developed their own tagging guides that adapt and interpret key tagging rules to better suit their country’s needs. As the de facto representative of the Myanmar OSM community, myOSM is working to develop such country-specific tagging guides for Myanmar.

Creating these guides involves intensive discussion among the Myanmar OSM community, seeking input from local mappers as well as experienced OSM contributors and groups aborad, and reaching consensus on the most appropriate way to tag local features—while still aligning with global OSM standards.

As of April 2025, the following Myanmar-specific tagging guides are available:

• Myanmar highway mapping in OSM
• Myanmar land use mapping in OSM (in progress)
• Myanmar waterway mapping in OSM (in progress)
• Myanmar building footprint mapping in OSM (in progress)

Additional guides may be developed in the future based on community needs and available resources.

Related Links & Resources

• OpenStreetMap Myanmar Facebook Group
• myOSM on HOT Tasking Manager
• Organised_Editing/Activities/myOSM (to be replaced by individual wiki pages for each mapping campaign)
• myOSM and other OSM teams around the world (to be edited)