Following the successful initiation of the Academic Track at State of the Map 2018 in Milan [1], this Track will be included again in the program of State of the Map 2019, to be held in Heidelberg on September 21-23, 2019.

The main purpose of the Academic Track is to bring together and foster interactions between the OpenStreetMap community at large (contributors, developers, users, etc.) and the academic/scientific community of researchers from all over the world.

A designated Leading Team would be in charge on the organization of the Academic Track, co-chaired by Marco Minghini (on behalf of the OSMF  State of the Map Working Group) and Yair Grinberger (on behalf of the  Heidelberg local team). We hereby issue a call for applications,  inviting all interested individuals to apply to join the Leading Team.  This team will be in charge of:

• writing and publishing the call for abstracts/papers for State of the Map 2019
• designing and managing the review process of the submitted  abstracts, deciding which ones to accept for oral presentation or poster  presentation
• defining the Academic Track schedule at State of the Map 2019, by  working in close contact with the Programme Selection Committee
• planning and managing possible publication outputs, e.g. conference proceedings or a Special Issue in a scientific journal

In agreement with the OSMF State of the Map Working Group and the local team, it was decided that the Academic Track Leading Team will be composed by Marco and Yair plus 3 additional people that would be selected through this open call. Thus, we invite applications for researchers or academics to be part of the Academic Track Leading Team. The call is open to everyone interested. Applications shall be made exclusively by sending an e-mail to the OSM science mailing list science@openstreetmap.org (this requires registering for the list at https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/science), and filling the following template:

Name and Surname 
Please enter your name and surname.

Affiliation
Please enter your (current) full affiliation.

Academic experience, in particular on OpenStreetMap
Please enter a short description of your main academic interests and  contributions, especially related to OpenStreetMap. A full list of  OpenStreetMap-related publications (or a link to it) is appreciated.

Editorial experience
Please enter a short description of your editorial experience, e.g.  as a Member of the Editorial Board of scientific journals, Guest-Editors  of Special Issues, reviewer for scientific journals. Place the focus on  OpenStreetMap, when relevant.

Participation in State of the Map 2019
Despite it is not required that you are attending State of the Map  2019, please inform us whether you plan to attend (if selected as a  member of the Academic Track Leading Team).

Only applications submitted according to this procedure and only self-nominations will be considered.

The deadline for applications is January 3, 2019.

Applications will be assessed by the OSMF State of the Map Working  Group and the Heidelberg local team. The three available seats of the  Academic Track Leading Team will be assigned based on the candidate’s personal merit and according to the overall goal of forming a diverse and Interdisciplinary Team. In absence of candidates who are meeting the expectations, the OSMF State of the Map Working Group and the  Heidelberg local team reserve the right to select less than three people, or nominate additional persons by invitation.

Best regards,
Yair and Marco – on behalf of the OSMF State of the Map Working Group and the State of the Map 2019 Heidelberg local team.

[1] See the call for abstracts for 2018 and the program of the Academic Track on Sunday, 29 July, room S1.3 (https://2018.stateofthemap.org/program)