Sri Lanka Waterways from OpenStreetMap for Flood Modeling

Sri Lanka's water features exported from OpenStreetMap. The dataset includes rivers, streams, canals, lakes, ponds, and other water bodies tagged with `waterway`, `water`, or `natural=water`. It was last updated on 2026-05-14 and is provided by the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT).

Use Cases

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

Strengths

• Covers multiple water feature types including rivers, streams, canals, lakes, and ponds.
• Available in multiple geospatial formats including GEOPACKAGE, KML, SHP, and GEOJSON.
• Sourced from OpenStreetMap, a free, collaborative global mapping project.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Completeness varies by region; urban areas are usually well-mapped, remote areas may be incomplete.

Provenance

Source

OpenStreetMap

Collection Method

Volunteer-contributed mapping via the OpenStreetMap platform.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-14 17:42:09.484939; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Sri Lanka