Laos Waterways from OpenStreetMap for Flood Risk and Watershed Analysis

OpenStreetMap exports provide water features across Laos, including rivers, streams, canals, lakes, and ponds. The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) compiled this data, last updated on 2026-05-14. Completeness varies by region, with urban areas typically better mapped than remote ones.

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 an environmental basemap context for regional planning from the water feature data.

Strengths

• Data is derived from OpenStreetMap, a free, collaborative global mapping project.
• Includes multiple water feature types tagged with `waterway`, `water`, or `natural=water`.
• Available in multiple geospatial file formats including GEOPACKAGE, SHP, and GEOJSON.

Limitations

• Completeness varies by region; remote areas may be incompletely mapped.
• 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-contributed mapping compiled by the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-14 17:16:51.199921; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Laos