OpenStreetMap Asia Pacific
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| News | |
|---|---|
| Ongoing | |
| 1 Jul. | MapCup Asia Pacific 2026 Started. |
| Past | |
The OpenStreetMap Asia Pacific Community is the network of local mappers, user groups, humanitarian mapping organisations, and partner institutions working to build free and open geographic data across the Asia Pacific region. The community spans South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, Central Asia, and Oceania, and brings together volunteers, government agencies, academia, and the private sector around open mapping.
This page serves as a regional hub for coordination, communication, events, and onboarding new contributors across the region.
Overview
Asia Pacific is one of the most active and fastest-growing regions in the global OpenStreetMap community. It is home to dense, rapidly changing urban areas, regions highly exposed to natural disasters, and a large base of student and youth mappers. The regional community focuses on:
- Strengthening local user groups and national communities
- Supporting humanitarian mapping and disaster response
- Growing youth and academic engagement
- Improving data quality, local-language tagging, and good mapping practice
- Mentoring new contributors and validators
Goals
- Coordinate mapping activities and knowledge sharing across countries in the region
- Lower the barrier to entry for new mappers through training and documentation
- Promote use of OSM data by local governments, NGOs, and communities
- Support mapathons, field data collection, and validation campaigns
- Connect isolated mappers to wider regional and global support
Geographic scope
The community covers, but is not limited to the following sub-regions:
| Sub-region | Examples of countries / areas |
|---|---|
| South Asia | Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bhutan, Maldives |
| Southeast Asia | Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Timor-Leste |
| East Asia | Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Mongolia |
| Central Asia | Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan |
| Oceania | Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and Pacific Island nations |
For country-specific pages, see Category:Countries in Asia and Category:Oceania.
Local communities and user groups
Many countries in the region have their own active national communities and OSM user groups. A non-exhaustive list:
- Bangladesh — WikiProject Bangladesh
- India — WikiProject India
- Indonesia — WikiProject Indonesia
- Philippines — WikiProject Philippines
- Nepal — WikiProject Nepal
- Japan — WikiProject Japan
- Australia — WikiProject Australia
- New Zealand — WikiProject New Zealand
Add your country, city, or local user group here.
Communication channels
The community coordinates across several platforms. Mappers are encouraged to join their national channels as well as regional ones.
| Channel | Purpose | Link |
|---|---|---|
| OSM Talk-AsiaPacific mailing list | Regional discussion and announcements | https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-asia |
| Telegram | Day-to-day coordination, national groups | ' |
| OSM Community Forum | Long-form discussion, regional category | community.openstreetmap.org |
| WhatsApp Group | Real-time chat | ' |
| Social media | Outreach and event promotion |  OpenStreetMap Asia Pacific  OpenStreetMap Asia Pacific
|
Official events and activities
The community organises and participates in:
Mapathons
| Event Name | Date | Location/Type | Supported By |
|---|---|---|---|
| MapCup Asia Pacific 2026 | 2026-07-01 | Remote | 
|
Activities
| Event Name | Activity Type | Date | Location/Type | Supported By |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Example event | Field Data Collection | YYYY-MM-DD | City, Country | Short description |
Featured Event
Official Projects and initiatives
Not Yet
Organisations
The regional community works closely with:
- Humanitarian OSM Team (HOT) and the Open Mapping Hub Asia Pacific
- YouthMappers and its regional chapters
- OpenStreetMap Foundation (OSMF) working groups
- Local NGOs, universities, and government agencies
How to get involved
- Create an account at openstreetmap.org
- Read the Beginners' guide and Good practice
- Start editing with the iD web editor, then explore JOSM
- Join your national community channel and a regional list
- Take part in a mapathon or validation campaign
- Help with documentation and translating wiki pages into local languages