Nepal marked a milestone in its geospatial journey in April 2025 with the successful completion of the country’s first-ever Inclusive Mapping Week, held at Kathmandu University. Led by a single national coordinator, the week-long initiative aimed to empower students, professionals, and communities through the use of open geospatial technologies, while strengthening Nepal’s open mapping ecosystem.
Supported by mentorship from Kiran Ahire, Asia Pacific Community Manager at TomTom, and backed by a dedicated team of volunteers including Usha Dhakal and Lokendra Yadav, the event reached more than 400 participants and set a new benchmark for open mapping initiatives in the country. Sponsored by TomTom, the programme combined education, collaboration, and humanitarian response, making it a turning point in Nepal’s geospatial history.
The seven-day event featured intensive training sessions on OpenStreetMap, remote sensing, spatial data management, biodiversity mapping, crisis mapping, advanced visualization tools, and ground-truth mapping, offering participants both theoretical knowledge and hands-on experience.
Beyond training, Mapping Week 2025 actively contributed to disaster response efforts through weekly mapathons supporting earthquake-affected areas in Nepal and Myanmar. Mapping teams focused on identifying damaged infrastructure, evacuation routes, and essential services in Koshi Rural Municipality, while also contributing critical spatial data following the 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Myanmar on 28 March 2025, helping humanitarian agencies improve logistics and aid delivery.
The initiative also broke new ground in inclusivity, with women making up 57 percent of participants, highlighting a growing female leadership presence in Nepal’s geospatial sector. Organizers described the event not just as a training programme, but as a movement to bridge knowledge gaps, foster inclusive participation, and strengthen Nepal’s contribution to global geospatial science.
With strong collaboration among trainers, speakers, volunteers, and participants, Mapping Week 2025 laid the foundation for future data-driven and open mapping solutions in the country, reinforcing the idea that while maps are tools, it is the mappers who drive lasting change.
