Syrian Waterways from OpenStreetMap for Flood Risk Modelling

OpenStreetMap exports provide water features across Syria, including rivers, streams, canals, lakes, and ponds. The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) compiled this data, which was last updated on 2026-05-15. It is useful for creating environmental basemaps and conducting watershed analysis.

Use Cases

• Model flood-risk based on the distribution of rivers and streams.
• Conduct watershed analysis using the network of canals and water bodies.
• Create an environmental basemap for context using lakes and ponds.

Strengths

• Data is derived from OpenStreetMap, a free, collaborative world map.
• Includes features tagged with `waterway`, `water`, or `natural=water`.
• Available in multiple geospatial formats including GEOPACKAGE, KML, SHP, and GEOJSON.

Limitations

• Completeness varies by region; urban areas are usually well-mapped, remote areas may be incomplete.
• 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-collaborative mapping and export by the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-15 09:24:58.932092; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Syria