National Mapping Initiatives of Nepal Raja Ram Chhatkuli

National Mapping Initiatives of Nepal Raja Ram Chhatkuli Survey Department Kathmandu, Nepal Email: rrchhatkuli@yahoo. com URL: http: //www. dos. gov. np GWF NMO-Industry Exchange Forum 16 January 2011, Hyderabad India

Country Context Landlocked Himalayan Country in South Asia Federal Democratic Republic (on the way of state restructuring, No Federal system yet) Until now 5 Dev. Regions, 14 Zones, 75 Districts, 58 Municipalities/ 3913 VDCs Area: 147, 181 Km 2 Population: 23. 15 [2001 Census] million Population Growth Rate: 2. 27 gfk. L ljefu Multi-lingual, multi-ethnic, and diverse culture Survey Department

Country Context … Beautiful but difficult to mapping gfk. L ljefu Survey Department

Country Context … The Country of Mt. Everest Birth Place of Lord Buddha gfk. L ljefu Survey Department

Country Context … Population Distribution Physiographic Regions Kathmandu gfk. L ljefu Survey Department

Introduction to Survey Department The Organization ◦ One of the central organizations of Government of Nepal ◦ About 2, 480 permanent staff nationwide ◦ Around 83 permanent and several periodic (project) offices scattered all over the country National Mapping Organization National Cadastre Organization National hub of Spatial Data Infrastructure gfk. L ljefu Survey Department

Survey Department as NMO National Mapping Organization ◦ Regulating, Monitoring and Coordinating Mapping activities in the country Topographical Surveying Activities ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ Topographic Map Series 1: 25 K/ 1: 50 K Larger scale topographic mapping on demand Small scale topographic mapping Various kinds of maps on different Scales Atlas production List of Geographical names Multi-resolution NTDB 1: 25 K, 1: 50 K, 1: 100 K, 1: 250 K, 1: 500 K, 1: 1 M Geodetic Surveying Activities ◦ Geodetic Surveys of different orders ◦ Nationwide network of Control (Horizontal and Vertical) Points gfk. L ljefu Survey Department

Technology in Use: Geodetic Surveying Airborne Gravity Survey Horizontal Control Survey Leveling Vertical Control gfk. L ljefu Survey Department

Technology in Use: Topographic Surveying and Mapping Remote Sensing GIS/ Digital Cartography gfk. L ljefu Survey Department

Survey Department as NCO Cadastral Surveying Activities ◦ Nationwise coverage of land registration based on large scale cadastral plans 1: 500 (urban areas) 1: 1250 (Semi-urban areas) 1: 2500 (Rural areas) ◦ Parcel-based mapping in urban areas ◦ Cadastral Resurveying ◦ Cadastre Updating to Support Land Registration Activities Development of LIS ◦ Computerization of Land Records ◦ Digitization of Cadastral maps gfk. L ljefu Survey Department

Technology in Use: Commonly Used Traditional Plane-tabling gfk. L ljefu Cadastral Surveying Total station data capture in Municipality cadstre Survey Department

Survey Department at NSDI National Geographic Information Infrastructure (NGII) established in 2001 National Mapping Committee to coordinate mapping and geospatial activities ◦ MOLRM Secretary – Chairman ◦ Joint Secretary of several ministries- Members ◦ Director General of Surveys – Member Secretary Mapping Specifications for all mapping from government/ public funds to be approved by Survey Department Central depository of maps, and aerial photography and spatial data Mechanism for data and metadata sharing gfk. L ljefu Survey Department

Technology in Use: gfk. L ljefu Web-based NGII portal Survey Department

Some important ongoing projects using RS, GIS, GPS or other modern technology Forest Resources Assessment project ◦ Forest resource assessment data, maps and report ◦ Forest cover mapping for the whole country using satellite remote -sensing technology ◦ Development of Forest Information System as part of the NSDI Airborne Gravity Survey project Urban mapping and U-GIS development project Modernizing parcel-based land information system project National landuse project Several Li. DAR mapping projects gfk. L ljefu Survey Department

Other Projects under consideration 1: 10, 000 base mapping for southern half. . Re-engineering of cadastral system ◦ Use of satellite remote-sensing and/or aerial photogrammetry (plus ground based GPS/ numerical survey in creating parcel-based database) ◦ Open. Source cadastre and land registration system (OSCAR) ◦ Re-structuring the land information service delivery system Restrengthening NSDI ◦ Establish a National Remote sensing Center having Data Acquisition System Data Processing System Data Archiving System Data Dissemination System Data Analysis, Information processing and Mapping System Data Networking and Decision-support System Creating temporal database for glaciers, glacial lakes and snow line survey Landuse planning (land consolidation, landuse zoning) gfk. L ljefu Survey Department

Conclusion National mapping in Nepal under technological transformation There are Risks and there are Opportunities gfk. L ljefu Survey Department

Thank You !!! gfk. L ljefu Survey Department