Waterways of Ethiopia from OpenStreetMap for Flood Risk and Watershed Analysis

Waterways of Ethiopia is a geospatial dataset of water features extracted from OpenStreetMap by the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT). It includes rivers, streams, canals, lakes, ponds, and water bodies tagged with `waterway`, `water`, or `natural=water`. The dataset was last updated on 2026-06-19 and is available in multiple geospatial formats.

Use Cases

• Flood-risk modelling based on the spatial distribution of rivers, streams, and water bodies.
• Watershed analysis using the network of waterways and canals.
• Creating environmental basemap context for planning using lakes, ponds, and other water features.

Strengths

• Data is sourced from OpenStreetMap, a free, collaborative world map.
• Available in multiple geospatial formats including GEOPACKAGE, SHP, and GEOJSON.
• Published under the ODbL-1.0 license, allowing for open use and adaptation.

Limitations

• Coverage reflects volunteer mapper activity; urban areas are likely well-represented while remote areas may be sparse.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

OpenStreetMap

Collection Method

Volunteer mapping and collaborative contribution.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-19 10:32:34.404173.

Geography

Ethiopia