OS-Bhugol (ओएस-भूगोल)

Open Source Geographic Boundaries for India — Starting with Maharashtra

Bhugol (भूगोल) means "Geography" in Hindi/Marathi.

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🎯 Mission

Make machine-readable geographic boundary data freely available for Indian administrative divisions — from states down to municipal wards — in formats developers can actually use.

Government data exists, but often only as PDFs, images, or locked portals. OS-Bhugol bridges this gap by providing clean, attributed, open-licensed GeoJSON/KML files.

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🚨 The Problem

What Government Provides	What Developers Need
Ward maps in PDF/JPEG	GeoJSON/KML polygons
Data behind login portals	Raw downloadable files
Scattered across 50+ portals	Centralized repository
No version history	Git-tracked, auditable
Unclear licensing	Clear open license

This repository solves this.

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📊 Current Coverage

State	District	Entity	Status
Maharashtra	Parbhani	Municipal Corporation Wards (16)	✅ Complete

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📁 Repository Structure

OS-Bhugol/
├── README.md
├── LICENSE
├── CONTRIBUTING.md
│
└── data/
    └── india/
        └── maharashtra/
            └── districts/
                └── parbhani/
                    ├── _meta.json              # District metadata
                    └── municipalities/
                        └── parbhani-municipal-corporation/
                            ├── _meta.json      # Municipality metadata  
                            ├── sources/        # Original PDFs/images
                            │   └── mahanagar_palika_prabhag_rachna_map.jpg
                            ├── boundary.geojson
                            └── wards/
                                ├── wards.kml   # All wards combined
                                └── wards.geojson

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🔧 Data Formats

Format	Primary Use	Support
GeoJSON	Web apps (Leaflet, Mapbox, D3.js)	✅ Primary
KML	Google Earth, desktop GIS	✅ Secondary
Shapefile	Legacy GIS software	🔜 On request

Each data file is accompanied by:

• _meta.json — Source attribution, last updated, contributor info
• sources/ — Original government documents for verification

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💡 Use Cases

For Developers

• Election dashboards — Visualize results by ward/constituency
• Census analysis — Overlay demographic data on boundaries
• Hyperlocal apps — "Which ward am I in?" functionality
• Civic tech — Complaint tracking, service mapping by area

Sky is the limit for what can be done with this data!

For Journalists & Researchers

• Investigation mapping — Geographic analysis of stories
• Academic research — Urban planning, political science, demography
• Data journalism — Interactive maps for stories

For Government & NGOs

• Quick prototyping — Build dashboards without recreating boundaries
• Cross-department data — Standardized geography for interoperability
• Field surveys — Pre-loaded boundaries for data collection apps

For Education

• GIS training — Real Indian data for students
• Geography education — Interactive local maps

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🚀 Quick Start

Use with Leaflet.js

fetch('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mahanvyakti/OS-Bhugol/main/data/india/maharashtra/districts/parbhani/municipalities/parbhani-municipal-corporation/wards/wards.geojson')
  .then(response => response.json())
  .then(data => {
    L.geoJSON(data).addTo(map);
  });

Use with Python

import geopandas as gpd

wards = gpd.read_file('data/india/maharashtra/districts/parbhani/municipalities/parbhani-municipal-corporation/wards/wards.geojson')
wards.plot()

Download and Open in QGIS

1. Clone: git clone https://github.com/mahanvyakti/OS-Bhugol.git
2. Open QGIS → Layer → Add Layer → Add Vector Layer
3. Select any .geojson or .kml file

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🤝 Contributing

We need help expanding coverage! See CONTRIBUTING.md for:

• How to trace boundaries from official maps
• Data quality standards
• Metadata requirements

Priority Areas

• Other cities in Maharashtra (Nanded, Latur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar)
• Tehsil boundaries
• Vidhan Sabha constituencies

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📜 Data Sources & Attribution

All data is traced from official government sources. Each _meta.json file contains:

• Source document URL or description
• Date accessed
• Government department name
• Any known caveats

We do not claim copyright over the underlying geographic facts. Our contribution is the digitization effort and organization.

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⚖️ License

This database is made available under the Open Database License (ODbL). See LICENSE for details.

• ✅ Free to use, modify, share
• ✅ Commercial use allowed
• ⚠️ Attribution required
• ⚠️ Share-alike for derivative databases

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🌟 Acknowledgments

• DataMeet — Inspiration from India's open data community
• OpenStreetMap India — Complementary efforts in mapping
• NIC & Survey of India — Original source data

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📬 Contact

• Maintainer: Rajan Gaul
• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Discussions: GitHub Discussions

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Making India's geography truly open, one boundary at a time.