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title: "USAID Kathmandu Tracing Guide"
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		<h1>The Kathmandu Tracing Guide</h1>
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		<h2>Introduction</h2>

		<p>The Kathmandu Valley is among one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in South Asia, growing at a rate estimated between 5-7% per year. Home to approximately 2.5 million people, the fast pace of growth leading to unplanned urban development coupled with substandard housing making it a difficult city for officials to manage. Not all housing units are accessible by road, and often can only be reached by traversing narrow alleys which are not included on current maps. Along with these constraints, the city of Kathmandu sits on a seismically active zone, making it one of the most vulnerable cities in the world.</p>

		<p><b>Problem:</b> In the old sections of KTM, and areas currently experiencing unplanned urban development, city blocks are very dense and access to buildings is gained only through narrow alleys, doorways and paths. Mapping these corridors is critical and extremely challenging from overhead imagery, and even present challenges to GPS mapping due to the very limited view of the sky. This guide will allow users a reference when tracing building footprints from imagery.</p>

		<p><b>Goal:</b> The primary goal of this event is to trace building footprints within the Kathmandu Valley. Due to the highly variable urban fabric of Kathmandu and the desire for a precise, accurate and consistently collected geospatial data, this guide aims to increase the accuracy of building footprint collection from volunteers by addressing key challenges associated with interpreting high resolution imagery within this environment. Upon completion of this event further investigation by both USAID and Kathmandu Living Labs (KLL) will be conducted to review results both in terms of accuracy and quantity.</p>

		<p><b>Study Area:</b> The study area for this event was provided by the KLL team located in Nepal. KLL is currently focused on collecting all building footprints within the Kathmandu Valley, and sends out field team to verify results.</p>
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