Introduction to myself

My name is Narayan Thapa, and I studied geomatics engineering at Kathmandu University. I’m particularly interested in using OpenStreetMap, UAVs, GIS, Python programming, and cloud computing (Google Earth Engine). In the project “Mapping Banepa Municipality in OSM and its Applications in Mitigating Effects of Urbanization- A Case Study of Urban Rooftop Farming Using Geospatial Technology,” I served as the project lead. I currently work at ICIMOD as an intern.

Introduction to project

This project seeks to address global issues like “zero hunger” (agenda 2), “good health and well-being” (agenda 3), “sustainable cities and communities” (agenda 11), and “climate action” (agenda 13) by creating a bridge between geospatial technology and society. In Nepal, many municipalities are expanding quickly. Agricultural lands have been transformed into structures and infrastructure as a result of rapid urbanization. The urban environment has been negatively impacted by this, as local food production and greenery have declined. Urban areas people were primarily dying for food during the COVID-19 situation, as opposed to from disease. By mapping the current state of rooftop farming in Banepa Municipality and estimating the area for future farming, we hope to find a solution to this issue.

The idea behind the project

During the COVID-19 situation, everyone was asked to remain inside their own homes, and every educational institution switched from an in-person to a virtual platform. Dr. Reshma Shrestha invites me and the other three students, Jenish Chauhan, Ashmita Dhakal, and Rabi Shrestha, to a Zoom meeting in this circumstance. She brought up the topics of OpenStreetMap, rooftop farming, and geospatial technology during this meeting. I was first introduced to urban rooftop farming and practice, but we were unable to provide many answers. Later, however, I also met Dr. Rehana Shrestha. I conducted a few analyses during that meeting that could be used to monitor rooftop farming, but the accuracy of the results was not certain.

Selection of a concept note, submission of a proposal, and contract

From 2020–2021, I worked as the Academic and Research Coordinator at the Geomatics Engineering Society. So, I wrote the first concept note for the selection procedure using a methodology with questionable accuracy. When this idea was chosen as the most innovative idea by Booster Grant Committee 2021 and I was asked to submit a proposal, I was thrilled and surprised. In consultation with a Geospatial analyst at Kathmandu Living Lab and KU alumni Sushma Ghimire and Vice president Ashok Thakulla, I have submitted the first proposal. Although it was the best proposal, more questions about the methodology quickly arose. Our understanding of OpenStreetMap is demonstrated here. The second proposal was written again while making a few changes to the methodology, which raises more concerns. Open Tech and Innovation Specialist at The Open Mapping Hub - Asia Pacific (AP Hub) Nirab Pudasaini organized an emergency meeting. Since it had been a while since our debuts, he introduced us to a few new platforms, such as OpenAerialMap and WebODM, which make it easier to create simple methodologies. By this point, we were both quite clear. In the end, Sushma Ghimire, Ashok Thakulla, president Manisha K.C., and I talked and wrote the final proposal. When this proposal was approved, we received a call to sign the agreement.

UAV registration and authorization for flight

The Department of Geomatics Engineering at Kathmandu University has unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Due to the COVID-19 situation, those drones’ registration for use in this project needs to be renewed. No one knew the procedure due to the department’s frequent staff changes. To monitor the UAV flight and make suggestions, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has also changed the rules and regulations. In the past, UAV registration and renewal were free of charge, but today, registration and renewal must be completed online and cost $10. To resolve all the problems, it takes about 7 days. The renewal process takes two days. Due to staff negligence, two identical copies of the drone registration are provided. I must therefore three days trip at CANN’s offices.

As a rapidly urbanizing area that is not yet mapped in OpenStreetMap, we chose the Mahalaxmi Municipality as our study area. Given that Tribhuvan International Airport is located not far from this municipality. It was decided not to allow drone flight. It is necessary to modify the study space. After a discussion with Bibash Dahal who was familiar to us and Municipality. We plan to change the study area from Mahalaxmi Municipality to Banepa Municipality. However, we need to know if are they doing rooftop farming. During the discussion with Mayor and Deputy Mayor, we found that this municipality was distributing Kits to promote rooftop farming. Since this municipality was also not mapped after the last earthquake of 2015. We select it as a study area. Additionally, we ask the municipality for assistance in granting us permission to fly drones and they offer a letter granting permission for drone flights. However, the administrative office staff was inexperienced and ignorant of the requirement for drone flight authorization. He had been debating for a while whether we needed permission to fly the drone. But later, after presenting the previous report, he became persuaded and provided the letter of authorization for the drone flight.

Drone flight

This was the best time because, after nonstop administrative work, we could now actually fly the drone. We used to ask permission from the residents so that we could fly the drone from the roof. The sight of a drone in flight delighted young children greatly. I now have more accountability. I used to fly drones continuously, download the data, and compile the best results based on the flight time. It took 13 days to complete this process.

Image processing:

I want to start by saying thank you to Nirab Dai for connecting me with Stephen Vincent Mather, a co-founder of WebODM. We were using a brand-new platform. Image processing training was offered by Stephen for two days. I had to wait for the image upload because the platform was web-based, and it was very difficult to upload 11000 images at once. The biggest thing, however, is how quickly it is used to process data. He advises that we utilize the Kathmandu University Super Computer. However, the issue was that it could only process 2000 images at a time. The WebODM started displaying errors all of a sudden, so I sent an email. This issue was later resolved. I used other software to process every image so I could see the outcome and upload the orthophoto to OpenAerialMap. Now, anyone can access this image.

Supervisory and advisory advice

After Drs. Rehana and Reshma’s supervision, everything was changed. She first advises reading the report on urban rooftop farming. After studying reports and research articles for a week, we discovered that people are not integrating rooftop farming and OpenStreetMap. But right now, there is a lot of debate about what to do and what not to do. Following a five-day discussion, we decided to map the following items that are frequently found on people’s roofs, including water tanks, solar panels, rooftop agriculture, and building components if any. Some tags can be found in the OSM wiki, but we create our own tags and tell the mapper how to use them. so that we can replace the tag later. This is the tags we create for the mapping:

For building

- building=yes

- roof:shape= *

- roof:material= *

- green_roof=yes

For solar panel

- solar_panel= yes

For water tank

- water_tank= yes

For building part

-roof:part= yes

For gardening

-green;roof= yes

Presentation of rooftop farming at NAST Conferences:

At the 9th National Conference on Science and Technology 2022, Khumaltar, Lalitpur Nepal, I presented our research findings on rooftop farming’s potential in Nayabasti Banepa, Nepal using Volunteered GIS. The geospatial technology and the need for OpenStreetMap for rooftop farming monitoring and mapping were topics I covered during this presentation, Here is the application In this conference, author Dr. Reshma Shrestha is joined by Narayan Thapa, Sushma Ghimire, Dr. Rehana Shrestha, and Dr. Sunil Babu Shrestha.

Training on QGIS for Open Street Mapping ” Application for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals 2030 "

The training was particularly interesting. For fifteen days, Sushma and I worked to develop the lesson plan. Our attention has largely been focused on the following five agendas: life on land (agenda 13), climate action (agenda 11), sustainable cities and communities (agenda 11), and ending hunger (agenda 2). ( agenda 15). The training was crucial because, before the training, osm mappers couldn’t download the data, but now they can perform analyses. We have taught them the Insafe plugin focusing on climate action and life on land. Buffer and overlay analysis focusing on sustainable cities and communities. Accessibility from health post analysis focusing on good health and wellbeing. Rooftop farming focuses on zero hunger.

Changing a custom tag to an OSM tag

I asked Dr. Can Unen OpenStreetMap Trainer for the Asia-Pacific Regional Hub, who I knew from his previous visit to Kathmandu University, help me create an OSM tag? I was eager to change the custom tag into an osm tag after our conversation. The fact that the symbol and color will also change is what makes it the most amusing. This tag was developed following the conversation.

Tag for building:

- building=yes

- roof:shape=* (Link: roof:shape=* )

- roof:material=* (Link: roof:material=* )

- Whenever applicable, add the following tags. green_roof=yes (if the rooftop farming is done on the roof)

For solar panel

- power= generator

-generator: source= solar

-location= roof

For water tank

-man_made=storage_tank

-content=water

-location= roof

For building part

-roof:part= yes

- roof:material=* (Link: roof:material=* )

For garden

-leisure=garden

-garden:type= roof_garden

-location=roof

He also gave me zero-level editor training so I could switch from the custom tag to the osm tag quickly. The biggest problem, though, was that some users didn’t use the advised custom tag. As a result, the conversion of a custom tag to an osm tag is a laborious process. I’m not sure if all of them are converted.

Finalizing the documents:

For the handover program, story maps, dashboards, and map books were created. Spatial data and all digital documents were submitted to the municipality. The local authorities were enthusiastic and asked us to conduct additional research on rooftop farming from the production and investment perspectives.

Unknown discovery during the study

When the data was analyzed, it was interesting to see how many homes were contributing to the fight against climate change. 1052 of the 11575 homes have solar panels, and 1759 have rooftop farms. Out of the 2367 houses involved in climate action, 444 have both solar panels and rooftop farming.

Few project accomplishments

The resilient solutions expo and conference 2022 Associate Professor/ Head of Department of Geomatics Engineering Kathmandu University Dr. Reshma Shrestha gave a presentation at ICIMOD titled “Technological innovations and digital solutions - Looking from the Perspective of Land Use: A case of Urban Roof Top Farming “

Abstract on “Supporting data-driven decision of municipality: A case of mapping rooftop farming using Geospatial Technology” accepted at Bochum’s Urban Health Transdisciplinary Forum.

Acknowledgment

I want to thank the Booster Grant Committee 2021, Open Mapping Hub Asia Pacific, and Kathmandu Living Lab for choosing this idea as the most innovative idea and awarding grants. I want to express my gratitude to the GES committee 2020–2021 for their assistance and continued presence in times of need. If the osm mapper hadn’t continuously mapped, this output wouldn’t be present. I would like to thank the validator team of Rabi Shrestha, Pragya Pant, and Mukesh Thapa, drone pilot Suyog Gautam, Dinesh Bhatt, and field coordinator Bibash Dahal. Additionally, I want to thank Manisha K.C., the project co-lead, and Ashok Thakulla, a Mapthon analyst. Special thanks go out to Dr. Can Unen, Nirab Pudasaini, and Dr. Nama Budhathoki from Open Mapping Hub Asia Pacific. I want to express my gratitude to Dr. Reshma Shrestha, Dr. Rehana Shrestha, and Er. Sushma Ghimire for their ongoing support, guidance, and polishing of this project.