My journey with OpenStreetMap (OSM) started unofficially after the 2015 Nepal Earthquake. During this time I experienced the real impact of the use of OSM data by humanitarian agencies in Sindhupalchok—the second most devastated district after the earthquake. After the earthquake for immediate and effective response, the Government of Nepal, National Planning Commission and Himalayan Climate Initiatives’ collective established National Volunteering Program (NVP). I lead the initiative as the national coordinator. As soon as I came back to Kathmandu, I start following mapping work and got introduced to Dr. Nama Raj Budhathoki who was leading the mapping initiative with national and international digital mappers. Later, KLL became one of the co-implementation partners of NVP.

On 27 Oct 2016, I got my account on OSM and started contributing to my best ability on point, line, and polygon. My interest in OSM grew so much that I decided to leave NVP and join KLL to lead the community of OSM Nepal representing KLL. Thanks to the mentorship of Dr. Budhathoki and the team at KLL, I got involved with community expansion by sensitizing around 3000 new people about OSM by visiting various schools, colleges, conferences, and institutions. It was a proud moment for me and KLL that we were able to introduce the first and second cohort of Digital Internship and Leadership Program (DIAL) which was very successful for both quality and quantity contribution to OSM. It was another proud moment to represent the OSM Nepal community to host the 2017 State of the Map Asia conference in Nepal as one of the organizers which were a grand success. The journey with OSM in 2016, 2017, and early 2018 remained more as a contributor on a daily basis whereas the post-2018 is focused on the use of it.

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