Chinari — Nepal's Own Address Map
Chinari gives every street, house and business in Nepal a digital identity. Search any registered shop, landmark or home, see exactly where it is, and share its address as a link — things that were never possible before, because most of Nepal's streets had no names and its houses had no numbers. Roads across all 77 districts are already on the map, and every house, business and landmark is checked by a real person before it goes live.
Why this project started
In most of Nepal, an address is a story: "beside the peepal tree, two houses past the pharmacy." Deliveries get lost, ambulances ask directions, and businesses stay invisible online. Global map providers have not solved this — their maps of our towns are missing streets, and house numbers simply don't exist. Chinari was started to fix that from the ground up: a Nepali-built registry where streets get names, houses get metric numbers (odd on the left, even on the right, restarting in each ward), and every address and business is checked by an admin before the public sees it.
What you can do on this map
- Search businesses, landmarks, cities, streets, rivers and lakes, and bus stops — by name, from anywhere in Nepal.
- Find a house — choose the street and type its house number.
- Search by area — narrow any search to a province, district, local level or ward; the results show as red pins on the map.
- See buildings and what is inside — a building shows its name, and the shops inside appear as you zoom in.
- Road surface — where a road has been surveyed, markings show whether it is pitched, gravelled or earthen.
- Directions — routes along the main roads registered so far, with distance and time.
- Share an exact location — every house, landmark and city has a link that opens the map right there.
- Find my location — one tap takes the map to where you are.
- Boundaries — show the province, district, local level and ward lines.
- Nepali or English — one tap switches every name and label.
Volunteer contribution — map your own neighbourhood
Chinari is built by the people who know their places best: locals. Volunteers add the businesses, landmarks, cities, bus stops and roundabouts of their own area, and tell us the real names of its streets. You don't need any technical skill — if you can use a map on your phone, you can contribute.
How it works
- Apply — press Apply to contribute at the top of this page and fill in the short form.
- We read every application. If it goes ahead, we contact you by phone or email and set up your login. Your work is credited to you by name.
- Log in and add what you know in your area: businesses, landmarks, cities, bus stops and roundabouts — and send us the real names of streets.
- Everything you add is marked pending first. The admin checks it, and only then does it appear on the public map. My Contributions shows everything you have added and whether it is approved yet.
① Suggest a road name or correction
- Almost every road is already on the map. Many still carry a code instead of a name — like AB Marga — until someone who knows the street tells us what it is called.
- Zoom in on the public map until the street shows its name or code.
- Send us that code, the ward, and the correct name in English and Nepali — email admin@chinari.app or message our Facebook page (link at the bottom of this page).
- The same for a road that is missing, drawn in the wrong place, or broken into pieces that are really one road: tell us what is wrong and where, and the admin fixes it.
- Suggest only a name you are sure of — check with the neighbours or the ward office first.
② Add houses (and how to add many at once)
- Open Houses → Add House, filter to your ward.
- For one house: click the center of the building. The ward, nearest street, and the correct metric house number are detected automatically — just check and save.
- For a whole street: switch Mode to Add Multiple, then click house after house along the street. Each pin gets its number instantly; press Undo Last if you misclick, then submit them all with one button.
② Add a place or business
- Open Places → + Add Place and use the area filter to jump to the ward.
- Zoom in and click the green house number the business is in — its full address fills in by itself. No number on that building yet? Tell us, and the admin will register it.
- Enter the name in English and Nepali, pick the category, and add its website or Facebook page if it has one.
- Several shops in one building? Press + Add More and list them all. Prominence decides which of them shows first on the building as the map zooms in.
③ Add a landmark
- Open Addresses → Landmarks → + Add Landmark.
- Pick the type — airport, park, jungle, stadium, religious site or attraction. A religious site also takes its faith.
- Drop the pin where the name should sit — no house number needed — enter the name in English and Nepali, and save.
- For a large place such as an airport, a park or a temple courtyard, press Draw beside it in the Landmarks list and trace its outline on the satellite view.
④ Add a city or chowk
- Open Addresses → Cities → + Add City.
- A city here is a name people find their way by — a bazaar, a main chowk, a bus park — not the name of a whole municipality.
- Drop the pin at its centre, or paste a coordinate into the box above the map, enter the name in English and Nepali, and save.
⑤ Add bus stops
- Open Transportation → Roads, find the road — filter by area or type its name — and press the bus button on its row.
- Click the road where the stop is, or paste a surveyed coordinate, and choose which side of the road you are standing on.
- If buses stop on the other side too, place that kerb as well: one stop number, with a code for each side.
- Save. Stops show on the public map from zoom 15, and anyone can search them by number or name.
⑥ Add a roundabout
- Open Transportation → Roundabouts → + Add Roundabout.
- Click the middle of the roundabout — that is the whole entry. It needs no name: a named chowk goes in as a city or a landmark instead.
④ Add rivers, lakes, ponds, bridges
- Open Rivers → Add Entry.
- A river is traced along its course like a road. A lake, pond, bridge, or glacier needs just one click at its center.
Common questions
Why do so many streets have names like "AB Marga"?
It is a placeholder. Roads were drawn before anyone told us their names, so each carries a code within its local level until the real name is confirmed. Know one? See "Suggest a road name or correction" above.
Why can't I find my house or shop?
Only registered addresses and businesses appear, and houses are being numbered area by area. Ask us — or apply, and add the businesses on your own street.
A road is wrong or missing — what now?
Many roads were first detected from satellite imagery, and they are being checked. Tell us what is wrong and where, and we will fix it.
Why don't directions use every road yet?
For now, directions follow the main roads registered by hand. Local roads join as they are checked.
What businesses gain
- Be found — customers anywhere in Nepal can search your shop by name, in Nepali or English, and see exactly where you are.
- Be reached — customers see your exact door, not a vague bazaar, and can share your location in one tap. Deliveries stop calling for directions.
- Be linked — your listing carries your website or Facebook page, and your address becomes a shareable link for visiting cards and ads.
- Be early — registration is free for businesses in mapped areas. As Chinari grows into every district, early businesses become the landmarks others are measured against.
Ready to put your neighbourhood on the map?
Apply at https://chinari.app/contribute/apply — your streets are waiting for their names.
Data sources & licence
Chinari App registry data — the streets, house numbers, places and water we
record — is published under the Open Database Licence (ODbL 1.0). You are free
to copy, adapt and use it, including commercially, provided you credit Chinari App
and release any derived database under the same licence. For a free copy of the
data, email admin@chinari.app.
We build on the work of others, and credit it:
Administrative boundaries — Survey Department of Nepal, via Open Knowledge
Nepal (CC BY 4.0). National outline — geoBoundaries (CC BY 4.0).
Highway, feeder road and major river geometry — © OpenStreetMap contributors
(ODbL). Local road geometry — Microsoft Road Detections (ODbL). Satellite imagery — © Esri, Maxar, Earthstar Geographics.
Shaded relief — Natural Earth (public domain).
House numbers, and every place recorded by a contributor, are our own survey
work.
Contributions. By adding data you agree that it may be published as part of
this registry under the licence above, and that your contribution is your own work
— not copied from a map or service whose terms forbid it. Google Maps and Google
Earth are never acceptable sources.