The greatest motivation for my mapping journey was to map those numerous people who do not exist on a global footprint and are overlooked. It’s not just about filling the blank spaces but validating their existence, recognizing these people and making sure that no one is left behind. Validation of the data makes sure that each data we create on OpenStreetMap (OSM) is accurate enough to create an inclusive and complete world. Through this diary, I share my enormous journey of these 5 months showcasing my motivation, challenges and triumphs that I encountered in maintaining the accuracy and quality of data in OSM.

Learning the Ropes

“Everything starts from a dot” - Wassily Kandinsky The journey from a beginner mapper to being an advanced mapper, trainee, a trainer has brought me here where I stand as a Validator Fellow from being a validator at HOT Global Validator. The opportunity provided by Open Mapping Hub Asia Pacific as an OM Guru Validation Fellow has not only boosted my validating skills but also opened the door to explore more new, powerful and qualitative tools to increase the speed as well as the quality of the validation. Validating tools like OSMCha, OSMose, Maproulette and many more have created an environment where we see the quality of the data through the lens of the mappers and make sure that they are adding quality data into the existing database of OpenStreetMap. There’s a saying “Practice makes men perfect”. I believe that practice along with patience and motivation makes men perfect and you have to be patient and there must be someone to motivate you while you’re mapping to embark on your mapping journey. The constant motivation and praises from mentors like Dinar, Mikko, and Honey have made this journey look great and fruitful.

Collaboration and Community

The fellowship offered collaboration between many mappers and validators around the world and learn from them as well. Also, it provided an opportunity to get engaged within various OSM communities and network around the world and see the work they have been doing to maintain the quality of OSM data and get motivated from that. The fellowship doesn’t end here but opens the door to future collaboration between OSM chapters, networks and communities of Nepal with other communities around the world through learning, sharing and helping each other.

Impact and Take Aways

For the past 2 decades, we have seen the impact of the data in OSM has created over the people around the world which makes it the most useful and trustworthy open geospatial data library. It’s always in the hands of valuable and dedicated mappers to add more map data and maintain the accuracy and quality of the data. Some of the major takeaways from this fellowship are:

• The fellowship taught you to harness the collaborative power of Citizen-Science and Voluntered Geographic Information System (VGIS) to create and maintain the quality geodatabase of the whole world.

• It helped me gain the idea of problem-solving and critical thinking to solve the data quality issues that arose during the validation process.

• It has increased my perception of the value and importance of open and quality geospatial data.

• Finally, it has opened my door to get connected with like minds around the world and see the future collaborations and communications.

In a nutshell, Open Mapping Hub Asia Pacific (OMH-AP) has provided me with this great opportunity to better understand the data quality issues, maintain the data quality standards and leverage different technologies to maintain up-to-date and accurate data in OSM.