Using Open Geo Data to Strengthen Urban Resilience in Nepal
By: Paul Knight
Tags: Humanitarian, Maps, Nepal, Open Data, Data

This blog is about the SURE programme which the GIS team has been supporting since 2017.

Following the 2015 Nepal Earthquake, preparedness and response activities highlighted the benefits of the use of open data to prepare for crises and lead to an effective response (freely available for all to access, use, share and derive outputs) — one of the most valuable sources proved to be OpenStreetMap (OSM).

OpenStreetMap (OSM) is an open source, editable map of the world, sometimes described as the Wikipedia of maps, that anyone can add, contribute to and use.

During the earthquake response, maps with data derived from OSM were used by a variety of actors for a number of different purposes, from providing a basis of maps to show locations of damaged homes to guiding locations of relief distributions.

The GIS team supports the Nepal Red Cross Society GIS and IM team as part of the Strengthening Urban Resilience and Engagement (SURE) programme implemented by the Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS), in partnership with the British Red Cross (BRC). The programme focusses on seven municipalities over five districts of Nepal with high urban growth rates and aims to improve the urban disaster resilience of citizens, including specific vulnerable groups, the NRCS and municipal governments.

Building on the previous use and benefits of open geographic data in Nepal, the SURE programme incorporates the use of open geographic data as part of urban assessments and specifically Hazard Mapping.

Taking place annually Hazard Mapping engages NRCS, municipal governments, and communities to identify and map locations of community capacities (e.g. schools, health centres), hazards, and vulnerable groups. The data is collected on mobile phones or large printed maps using OpenSteetMap as a basis. Data collected on mobile devices used OSM Tracker and Kobo. The British Red Cross GIS team and Nepal Red Cross use these mobile data collection tools and others in other programmes and during emergencies. Any non-sensitive/non-personal geographic data collected is added back to OpenStreetMap, whereupon it can be used both elsewhere in the programme and by any other OpenStreetMap user or organisation. For SURE, data collected is enhanced with other geographical data and inputs from community representatives and is then used to create maps of municipalities where the programme works, to inform resilience planning for the community, NRCS branches and municipal government.

Nepal Red Cross, Kathmandu

Building geospatial data for resilience

The Hazard Mapping tool (Tool 7) within the Urban Assessment toolkit was piloted.

The Urban Assessment Toolkit was developed by NRCS and BRC after existing tools such as the Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment (VCA) proved to be too difficult to use in large urban centres. In the past, assessment tools like VCA were used to identify vulnerabilities and capacities within communities which are often geographically well-defined and homogeneous in many geographic characteristics, and whose population live within a geographic area. For smaller, often more rural communities, these tools function well, however urban environments are fundamentally different in both their physical and their social structure. The Urban Assessment was created to address this.

One of the tools in the Urban Assessment is Hazard Mapping. This aims to gain an overview of the hazards which citizens are aware of, subject to and the community perception of these risks. This tool is used at a variety of stages throughout the programme and allows for the identification of trends and analysis of hazard perceptions.

Nepal Red Cross Society Information Session and Training

Missing Maps Project and workflows

The British Red Cross is a founding member of the Missing Maps Project, with the GIS Team serving as the focal point for it in the organisation. Hazard Mapping for an Urban Assessment closely follows the multi-step approach that Missing Maps uses:

Step 1

Firstly, remote volunteers add basic information, such as buildings and roads, from satellite imagery into OSM, coordinated using the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Tasking Manager.

In the case of SURE, some of the municipalities in the programme had already been mapped remotely for preparedness programmes prior to the 2015 Earthquake. Any municipalities that had not been remotely mapped were made available for mapping by the global remote volunteer community or were mapped as part of a field mapping exercises. These field mapping exercises were designed to build the capacity and knowledge of NCRS staff and volunteers of Missing Maps, Hazard Mapping and to emphasise, through first-hand experience, why having good geographic data is fundamental to effective programmes.

Step 2

Next, in-country volunteers collect local detail via in-field data collection.

For SURE, two methods were used to collect location information of hazards, vulnerable groups and capacities:

Using mobile data collection tools (OSM Tracker and Kobo), with volunteers walking throughout the municipality. Large printed copies of OSM were used by community members in focus groups to manually draw and add information about community hazards.

Data from both sources were collated, digitised, and uploaded to OSM (if appropriate) if non-sensitive and publicly available.

Step 3

Printed maps, aerial imagery and web maps are created using data collated from various sources. Data, information and analyses is then disseminated to the community, NRCS, schools and municipal government in order to inform the programme, and resilience planning.

As this Hazard Mapping exercise is conducted annually, any updates to the data collected are added to OSM and in turn any map products that use OSM as a basis can be kept up to date.

Activities to resilience planning

Starting in 2017, NRCS led activities, supported by BRC GIS team included:

Remote and in-field tasking and tracing of SURE programme targeted municipal areas;

Training NRCS and municipal government of the Hazard Mapping tool of the Urban Assessment and Vulnerability and Capacity Assessments (VCAs);

OpenStreetMap (OSM) training with the NRCS branch, volunteers and municipal government;

In-field data collection of vulnerable groups, hazards and capacities using both digital and paper-based tools;

Co-creation of paper and web maps then distributed to NRCS branches, schools and municipal government.

These are just a small selection of the activities that the NRCS team conducted! There were many successes too during the activities: the first use of the Hazard Mapping Tool in 2017 included over 215 participants across the municipalities, the majority of whom were women.

For one of the municipalities, Dhangadi, over 200 remote volunteers mapped 26,947 buildings and 481km of roads.

Throughout the programme, the Hazard Mapping activities included the NRCS branch and municipal government at all stages — the reasoning behind this was to ensure long term sustainability for the objectives of the programme and to build capacity, understanding and investment in the use of mapping as an effective tool for resilience planning. In this way, communities became stakeholders in their own development and reduce their vulnerability to hazards should an emergency occur again in the future.

Past experiences build future activities and outcomes

Whenever working in a new project or in different places, you always take away learning, and cement past experiences. This was no exception, and a few are listed below!

We found the process of remote mapping to field data collection successful. The participants working on OSM and the new toolkit improved their knowledge of the rationale, process and future use of the data collected. By working though practical examples participants were able to update OSM in a respectful manner considering individual’s privacy.

As the Hazard Mapping tool and use of VCA in urban environments was new to participants and NRCS, there was a lot of learning by doing. Key aspects of data collection like how to use and work with mobile data collection tools or tailoring collection methods to suit the audience (e.g. through focus groups) were learnt first-hand, incorporated, refined and used to improve the programme in real-time.

The Hazard Mapping tool and VCA could be used in a complementary manner. Participants who had taken part in or had knowledge of VCAs were encouraged to join the hazard Mapping activity to build on existing knowledge.

Mobile data collection and OpenStreetMap (OSM) are new tools for many. Building in time to go through the collection and editing process was factored into subsequent rounds of mapping, as was ensuring that data collection was inclusive, by having a diverse range of participants taking part.

Implementing a ‘Buddy’ system, pulled together the diverse nature of the participants and meant that everyone could still be involved. For example, putting together those more computer or data literate with those less so, or pairing participants who grasped the Hazard Mapping tool process quicker, with those less confident. This meant that a greater diversity of participants was included in the mapping, thereby better representing the communities being mapped.

As a team, the things we learned whilst supporting projects and programmes we take forward into our next support. Our support to SURE was no exception, and we took forward these key learnings:

Bring together the diverse skill sets of participants enables greater engagement within the activity and inclusive data collection. Remember to account for additional time needed for participants to become confident with new tools. Ensure any learning is documented if the activity is repeated throughout the programme.

Final words

This case study blog was aimed to provide a flavour of some of the support we’ve provided as a team.

When the Nepal Earthquake hit in 2015, the use of OpenStreetMap (OSM) for preparedness and resilience planning played a pivotal role in responding to the disaster.

Utilising OSM, the Nepal Red Cross supported by British Red Cross, designed the SURE programme, which included Hazard Mapping within the Urban Assessment toolkit. This tool utilised the Missing Maps framework within the programme and focused on collecting data points annually of locations of vulnerable groups, hazards and capacities, to inform resilience planning with the local branches and municipal governments, highlighting at-risk communities. NRCS led training, collecting, developing and disseminating map products for this purpose.

In areas which are rapidly changing, and growing, the ways communities interact and form change, they also vary from more rural settings. Adapting existing tools for urban areas and mapping for areas for resilience planning build resilience against, and preparedness for, a range of disasters and puts the citizens and at-risk groups at its centre.