River Mapping For River Museum

Introduction

In 2024, the Open Mapping Hub - Asia-Pacific (AP Hub) collaborated with Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS) to develop an online India’s River Museum, which is an open-source database of rivers across India. The database will be accessible globally, and will be developed using open-source platforms such as OpenStreetMap (OSM). As part of the project, local communities will be empowered to contribute data to the platform, ensuring that the database remains updated; communities will also be able to leverage the platform to monitor the health of the rivers and the impact of river conservation efforts. This Wikipage will cover the processes, tools, and data mapped in the project.

Background

Rivers are important ecosystems that contribute to our economic development, food security, and well-being; with nearly 2 billion people relying on rivers for their drinking water. Here in India, many communities still continue to rely on rivers for direct consumption. However, rivers in India face high levels of pollution from both industrial and agricultural activities and - including the sacred Ganges River - have been found to be one of the world’s most polluted bodies of water.

Besides serving as important sources of water, rivers are also important in India’s literary, art, and cultural heritage. For example, India - named after the Indus River - places great cultural importance on its rivers as sacred and holy areas.

As important, are India’s rivulets, or small rivers and streams which play a vital role in the health of the river ecosystem. For example, these small rivers serve as an important source of nutrients to large river systems. In India’s cities, these small rivers are also important, draining excess water and preventing floods. It is clear that the bearing of a river is intimately linked to the mental and physical well-being of communities who rely on them.

Problem Statement

Today, many communities across India have lost interest in their rivers, taking for granted the benefits provided by these water bodies. One contributing factor, TBS asserts, is a lack of data on the rivers. For example, a desk research on rivers across India only brings up superficial information on national and state-level rivers; there is still insufficient information on the smaller water bodies. There is also a lack of research into rivulets in India’s river system studies, contributing to the already sparse information on rivers. Without information to illuminate the challenges faced by these rivers, and their ongoing deterioration, communities are less inclined to actively participate in its conservation.

The Open Mapping Hub - Asia-Pacific (OMH-AP) also asserts that without representation on maps, these rivers and their communities will be unable to garner support from the region and India to aid their conservation efforts. These rivers and their communities will continue to be isolated and invisible to India.

Moreover, rivers, including rivulets, are complex ecosystems that are intricately interconnected with communities across India. Therefore, it is important to capture a longitudinal study of the rivers, i.e. collect and analyse the data over long periods of time. Unfortunately, data collection and analysis of these rivers today is fragmented and limited. While communities are best placed to contribute to and maintain the database, they lack the necessary skills to support this.

Geospatial and Socio-economic Data in India’s River Museum

To accommodate different forms of data, geospatial and socio-economic, AP Hub collaborated with TBS to develop a localised data pipeline, leveraging OSM, ODK, and Wikimedia. The pipeline will allow TBS and other local stakeholders to be able to map different kinds of data crucial to understanding rivers and their communities, and host them in a common platform.

Data Model

The following covers the data model for the River Museum.

• Buildings (building=*)
• Roads (highway=*)
• Landuse (landuse=*)
• Water bodies (natural=water, water=*)
• Drinking water sources
• Tubewells (water_source=tube_well)
• Borewells (man_made=borehole)
• Wells (man_made=water_well)
• Taps (man_made=water_tap)
• Sanitation Infrastructure
• Sewage discharge points (man_made=outfall)
• Sewage treatment plants (man_made=wastewater_plant)
• Effluent treatment plants (water=wastewater)
• Dams (waterway=dam)
• Diversions
• Religious sites (amenity=place_of_worship) + (religion=*)
• Historical landmarks (historic=*)
• Picnic areas (tourism=picnic_site)
• Campsites (tourism=camp_site)
• Viewpoints (tourism=viewpoint)
• Hiking trails (highway=path) + (path=trail)
• Other tourism-related facilities (tourism=*)
• Bridges (man_made=bridge) + (layer=*)
• Boat ramps (leisure=slipway)
• Boat navigation channels
• Bird observation site. For open towers which are not dedicated bird watching platforms, consider using tower:type=observation + man_made=tower.

Use this tag for closed buildings, leisure=bird_hide + shelter=yes

How to get involved?

Learning to Map

To start contributing to OpenStreetMap, please refer to a simple-to-use beginners guide called LearnOSM (http://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

You can contribute online by supporting mapping campaigns on HOT’s Tasking Manager and Map Roulette. Please find the complete list of mapping campaigns in the following table:

Remote mapping campaigns

Mapping Task	What to map	Task Mapping Status	Task Validation Status
https://tasks.hotosm.org/projects/16127	Building and Roads	34%	0%
https://tasks.hotosm.org/projects/16128	Landuse and Water Bodies	0%	0%
https://maproulette.org/admin/project/55230/challenge/43711	Water retaining structures/ Rainwater harvesting structures	0%	0%

Remote Mapping

Tasking Manager

The Tasking Manager campaigns aim to address a critical gap in data availability on smaller rivers like Sherni River. Without accurate information, there is a risk of misclassification, leading to the neglect or disappearance of these vital water bodies. By regularly updating and maintaining this data, we will establish a community-based memory, ensuring the river's continued recognition and protection.

The mapping campaign will identify various features visible from satellite imagery, including houses, roads, river channels, irrigation canals, and land use patterns such as forests, residential areas, and agricultural fields.

The Tasking Manager (http://tasks.hotosm.org/) 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.

Map Roulette

TBS has constructed several reservoirs together with the villagers. The Map Roulette campaign will work with volunteers to review the map and identify areas that have a reservoir nearby and add it to OSM.

MapRoulette (https://maproulette.org/) 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.