Yearly Archives: 2022

Announcing SotM 2022 Travel Grant Program

State of the Map is the annual event for all mappers and OpenStreetMap users.  We invite all OSM enthusiasts – whether you are a  hobby mapper, a  scientific researcher, a humanitarian, with an NGO or a  government agency, a small business or a global company — to join us in  Firenze, August 19-21, 2022, as we share experiences and ideas of taking the OSM ecosystem forward. We want to enable as many of you as possible to be part of State of the Map 2022! We invite and expect participation at State of the Map if you are selected. That could be a talk if the program committee selects, or in lightning talk sessions we’ll make available for scholars. There are other ways to participate and support the operations of the conference while you attend too.

Apply now for support to join us in Firenze for State of the Map 2022!
Deadline: 6 May 2022, 23:59:59 UTC

Each year, we receive more scholarship applications than we are able to support. To help us best allocate the funds, please specify the minimum types of support you need to attend. If you are requesting a travel grant, then tell us the amount of money to cover a portion of your travel and make a difference to attending or not. Please review our privacy policy covering how we will handle the information in your application.

Here are some tips to help you complete your application.

  • The clarity and concise answers will be helpful. Keep sentences short. 
  • Select the minimum level of scholarship you need. This will help us to make the best use of limited funds and enable more scholars to join.
  • Make sure you clearly state your visa and travel requirements and other potential funding sources.
  • We want to hear about your contributions to OpenStreetMap, your project or your group. We do not want an account of a group’s work but your individual part in it. Try to use “I”, not “we”.
  • You may include links to your OpenStreetMap profile, a local group you run, or software you created. If your written answer is satisfactory to get on our shortlist, we might look at these additional details.
  • The motivation statement on why you decided to apply for the TGP

Review process
Reviewing scholarships

Nationality
The allocation of points is based on the World Bank country rating by income.

  • Applicants from Low-income economies receive 1.5 points.
  • Applicants from Lower-middle-income economies receive 1 point.
  • Applicants from Upper-middle-income economies receive 0.5 points.
  • Applicants from High-income economies receive 0 points.

Residence
The allocation of points is based on the World Bank country rating by income.

  • Applicants who are currently living in Low-income economies receive 1.5 points.
  • Applicants who are currently living in Lower-middle-income economies receive 1 point.
  • Applicants who are currently living in Upper-middle-income economies receive 0.5 points.
  • Applicants who are currently living in High-income economies receive 0 points.

Gender and Minorities
In order to create a more diverse community, women and applicants from other under-represented groups will receive 1 point.

Students
Students, including PhD students, receive 1 point.

OpenStreetMap and Community
Details of their past contributions to OpenStreetMap projects or community activities (Not only OpenStreetMap edits but contributed to wiki and documentation, trainers, developers): up to 4 points.

First state of the Map
Applicants that attend SotM for the first time receive 1 point.

More detailed information on the Travel Grant Programme can be found on the State of the Map 2022 website: https://2022.stateofthemap.org/travel_grant_programme/
Stay tuned to know more about the news and the events of State of the Map 2022! See you in Firenze and online.


The State of the Map Working Group

Do you want to translate this and other blog posts into your language…?  Please email communication@osmfoundation.org with the subject:  Helping with translations in [your language]

The State of the Map conference is the annual international conference of OpenStreetMap, organised by the OpenStreetMap Foundation. The OpenStreetMap Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation formed in the UK to support the OpenStreetMap Project. It is dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free geospatial data for anyone to use and share. The OpenStreetMap Foundation owns and maintains the infrastructure of the OpenStreetMap project, and you can support it by becoming a member. The State of the Map Organising Committee is one of our volunteer Working Groups.

OpenStreetMap was founded in 2004 and is an international project to create a free map of the world. To do so, we, thousands of volunteers, collect data about roads, railways, rivers, forests, buildings, and more worldwide.  Our map data can be downloaded for free by everyone and used for any purpose – including commercial usage. It is possible to produce your own maps which highlight certain features, calculate routes etc.  OpenStreetMap is increasingly used when one needs maps that can be quickly or easily updated.

State of the Map 2022 – Academic Track: Call for Abstracts!

This year’s State of the Map conference, a hybrid conference taking  place in Florence and online simultaneously, will feature the fifth edition of the Academic Track – a full day of sessions dedicated to  academic research about, and with, OpenStreetMap (see the last year’s Academic Track). The goal of the Track is to showcase the research and innovation of  scientific investigations into OpenStreetMap, while at the same time providing a bridge to connect members of the OpenStreetMap community and the academic community through an open passage to exchange ideas and  opportunities for increased collaboration. We expect empirical,  methodological, conceptual, or literature-review-based contributions addressing any scientific aspect related to OpenStreetMap, in particular, but not limited to, the following:

  • Extrinsic or intrinsic quality assessment of OpenStreetMap data
  • Analysis of contribution patterns in OpenStreetMap
  • Generation of new and scientifically valuable datasets from OpenStreetMap
  • Assessments of data import procedures and their impacts on data and community
  • Integration between OpenStreetMap and other data sources (authoritative, user-generated, or otherwise valuable to OpenStreetMap)
  • Analysis/comparison of available software for scientific purposes related to OpenStreetMap
  • Novel approaches to facilitate or improve data collection and/or data quality in OpenStreetMap (e.g. through gamification or citizen science approaches)
  • Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning from, and with OpenStreetMap (e.g. AI-assisted mapping)
  • Open research problems in OpenStreetMap and challenges for the scientific community
  • Cultural, political, and organizational aspects of data production and usage practices in OpenStreetMap
  • Studies using OpenStreetMap data in scientific domains
  • Reviews of any scientific aspect connected to OpenStreetMap

In an effort to improve the interaction and collaboration between the academic and the more general OpenStreetMap communities, authors are invited to particularly highlight the practical implications or impacts of their research on the OpenStreetMap community at large.

Guidelines for submission

Authors are invited to submit extended abstracts using the State of the Map 2022 Pretalx submission system. Deadline for submission is 10 May 2022.

Abstracts should be between 800 and 1200 words. These limits will be strictly enforced for a fair and balanced review process. Abstracts must be scientifically rigorous, and the content should be  logically structured as follows (without the need to include subsections): introduction/background, where the problem addressed is introduced; main aim or purpose of the study; brief description of the  methodology and findings achieved; final discussion highlighting the scientific contribution of the study and its practical benefits/implications. In the evaluation of proposals, the scientific committee will pay attention to the reproducibility of the research (where this is applicable). Reproducibility is ensured when the research makes all artifacts (input data, computational steps, methods and code) openly available to obtain consistent results. When available, the code shall be released under an open source license. Abstracts are to be submitted online in plain-text format (no images or figures). Abstracts will be evaluated by the scientific committee. Authors of selected abstracts will be invited to deliver an oral presentation during the Academic Track sessions at the conference or to present a  poster (in case a poster session will be organised). Building on top of  the successful Proceedings of the Academic Track at State of the Map 2019, State of the Map 2020, and State of the Map 2021, selected abstracts will be published as a collection, each with a distinct Digital Object Identifier (DOI) in Zenodo, an open access online repository. The 2019 and 2020 Academic Track resulted in a special issue of the ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information. Similarly, the scientific committee may seek to further disseminate the contributions to this conference by investigating the organization of a special issue in a relevant, open access, scientific journal. In such a case, authors of the selected abstracts will be invited to submit a  full paper to this special issue. Successful submissions may benefit from partial or full waiver of publication fees.


Submit your proposal today! https://pretalx.com/orga/event/state-of-the-map-2022-academic-track/
Learn more about the requirements and the scientific committee on the official State of the Map 2022 website.

Do  you want to translate this and other blogposts in your language…?  Please email communication@osmfoundation.org with subject:  Helping with translations in [your language]

The State of the Map conference is the annual, international conference of OpenStreetMap, organised by the OpenStreetMap Foundation. The OpenStreetMap Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation, formed  in the UK to support the OpenStreetMap Project. It is dedicated to  encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free geospatial  data for anyone to use and share. The OpenStreetMap Foundation owns and  maintains the infrastructure of the OpenStreetMap project, and you can  support it by becoming a member. The State of the Map Organising Committee is one of our volunteer Working Groups.

OpenStreetMap was founded in 2004 and is an international project to create a free map  of the world. To do so, we, thousands of volunteers, collect data about  roads, railways, rivers, forests, buildings and a lot more worldwide.  Our map data can be downloaded for free by everyone and used for any  purpose – including commercial usage. It is possible to produce your own  maps which highlight certain features, to calculate routes etc.  OpenStreetMap is increasingly used when one needs maps which can be very  quickly, or easily, updated.

A new discussion forum for OSM

The OpenStreetMap Foundation is launching a new communication platform for the OpenStreetMap community at community.openstreetmap.org. Interested? Give it a try and find out how you can get involved with the next steps!

Screenshot of the new forum’s “feedback” category

Behind the scenes, the new space is powered by Discourse, a modern open source solution for online conversations. It is fully integrated with OSM accounts to let you log in with your existing user name. Discourse is easy to use and offers all the conveniences you would expect from social online spaces in the 2020s. At the same time, it gives power users access to optional advanced features: Write and receive posts through email, subscribe to RSS feeds, and more!

Of course, this is not the first platform dedicated to mappers’ conversations about their favourite passion. But while the new community space has been set up in parallel to the existing platforms provided by the Foundation (notably the forum, help site and mailing lists), we hope that the sub-communities on those platforms will eventually migrate to the new site. Likewise, we encourage communities currently using proprietary tools to consider adopting the new site for their communication needs. In particular, we are prepared to work with regional communities and local chapters – let us know on the Discourse forum what you need for your community to make this space your new home for discussing your local activities!

Choosing a solution that is hosted on our own infrastructure and based open-source software ties into the OpenStreetMap Foundation’s commitment to open communication channels. To ensure productive conversations and a welcoming environment, please respect our recently updated etiquette guidelines when you participate in the new forum. We hope that all members of the OSM community feel right at home at community.osm.org!

Announcing SotM 2022 Logo and CfP

The State of the Map Working Group is delighted to thank everyone who took part in the SotM 2022 Call for Logo and to finally reveal the winning one for this year’s global conference that will be held in Firenze (Italy) around August 19 – 21, as well as online!

The call for logo designs received more than 15 proposals from creative contributors from all over the world! We were excited to see such a warm response to the logo contest across the enthusiastic OpenStreetMap community, discovering different perspectives on a global project and learning from your inspirations for the State of the Map 2022 image and atmosphere.

…however, only one design will be the new face of this year’s conference!
Congratulations to Feye Andal for submitting the winning logo inspired by the symbol of the City of Firenze, the iconic lily!

The brand-new logo of this year’s conference will also shape the style of the design and graphic of the SotM branding, stickers, T-shirts and the website!

Be ready to share with the  OpenStreetMap community your projects, achievements, inspirations and  not only: the Call for talks, workshops and panels is officially open!  The  talks, workshops, and panels are the heart of the conference and would  not be possible without the inspiring and exciting contributions of the  entire community. As of now we are accepting your talks and  presentations within – but not limited to – the following State of the  Map 2022 categories:

  • OSM Basics: Information dedicated to newcomers 
  • Community & Foundation: Bringing people together, working group experiences, strategies & vision
  • Mapping: All about making the mapping easier and better
  • Cartography: Your ideas on how to create good-looking manifestations of the OSM dataset
  • Software Development: Software for processing and editing data
  • Data Analysis & Data Model: Reflections about the OSM data, its model and analysis of quality and completeness
  • User Experiences: Tell your creative projects or surprising story of using OSM as an end-user
  • Academic Track: There will be a proper academic track, it will be announced separately

Deadlines

  • 25 April 2022 23:59:59 UTC: Deadline talk and workshop submissions
  • End of May 2022: End of review phase, speakers will be informed
  • June 2022: Talk video production (test video and final video)
  • August 2022: Lightning talk video production
  • 19 – 21 August 2022: State of the Map

  For more information on these categories, on submission requirements and rating criteria, please visit the submission page on pretalx: https://pretalx.com/sotm2022/cfp Stay tuned to know more about the news and the events of State of the Map 2022! See you in Firenze and online

The State of the Map Working Group

Do  you want to translate this and other blogposts in your language…?  Please email communication@osmfoundation.org with subject:  Helping with translations in [your language]

The State of the Map conference is the annual, international conference of OpenStreetMap, organised by the OpenStreetMap Foundation. The OpenStreetMap Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation, formed  in the UK to support the OpenStreetMap Project. It is dedicated to  encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free geospatial  data for anyone to use and share. The OpenStreetMap Foundation owns and  maintains the infrastructure of the OpenStreetMap project, and you can  support it by becoming a member. The State of the Map Organising Committee is one of our volunteer Working Groups.

OpenStreetMap was founded in 2004 and is an international project to create a free map  of the world. To do so, we, thousands of volunteers, collect data about  roads, railways, rivers, forests, buildings and a lot more worldwide.  Our map data can be downloaded for free by everyone and used for any  purpose – including commercial usage. It is possible to produce your own  maps which highlight certain features, to calculate routes etc.  OpenStreetMap is increasingly used when one needs maps which can be very  quickly, or easily, updated.

Call for SotM 2022 logo designs

After two successful State of the Map online editions, the conference will be again hosted in Italy! In 19, 20 and 21 August SotM 2022 will be held in the city of Firenze, one of the most beautiful cities of Italy.

The face of every event is, of course, its logo; a recognizable graphical element that represents the spirit and mood of that year’s global conference. For this reason, we need the help of the most creative minds in the community to create a new logo for SotM 2022!

SotM Logo

The logo is also a crucial element for defining the design and colors of the official website, as well as the style of the conference content on all OSM platforms. It will also be used for the beloved SotM merchandise and swag (t-shirts, stickers, etc), making the best memories from the conference unforgettable.
From experienced professionals to graphic design newbies and enthusiasts, everyone can participate and share an original idea with the community!

Contest guidelines

The logo design should:

  • be an original artwork;
  • refer to OpenStreetMap (OSM), and State of the Map (SotM);
  • focus on the sense of global community and its core values;
  • be easily recognizable;
  • open licence: CC BY SA or related
  • be submitted by Sunday, 27 February 2022  23:59 UTC

How to enter

Please submit your logo proposal via email with subject “SotM 2022 logo proposal” to anisa.kuci@wikimedia.it keeping in CC sotm@openstreetmap.org, attaching the design file in a PNG format and scalable file format (like PDF or SVG). 

Winner selection

The submitted artworks will be reviewed by the SotM working group, and the winning logo will be decided via vote. The official logo will then be announced at the beginning of March.
Looking for some inspiration? Take a look at the logos from the past SotMs – https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/State_of_the_Map. If you have any question about the call, feel free to contact sotm@openstreetmap.org

The State of the Map Working Group

Do  you want to translate this and other blogposts in your language…?  Please email communication@osmfoundation.org with subject:  Helping with translations in [your language]

The State of the Map conference is the annual, international conference of OpenStreetMap, organised by the OpenStreetMap Foundation. The OpenStreetMap Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation, formed  in the UK to support the OpenStreetMap Project. It is dedicated to  encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free geospatial  data for anyone to use and share. The OpenStreetMap Foundation owns and  maintains the infrastructure of the OpenStreetMap project, and you can  support it by becoming a member. The State of the Map Organising Committee is one of our volunteer Working Groups.

OpenStreetMap was founded in 2004 and is an international project to create a free map  of the world. To do so, we, thousands of volunteers, collect data about  roads, railways, rivers, forests, buildings and a lot more worldwide.  Our map data can be downloaded for free by everyone and used for any  purpose – including commercial usage. It is possible to produce your own  maps which highlight certain features, to calculate routes etc.  OpenStreetMap is increasingly used when one needs maps which can be very  quickly, or easily, updated.

Announcing SotM 2022 Firenze, 19-21 August 2022


After two successful online editions, we are excited to announce that State of the Map 2022 will take place in-person in Firenze, Italy on August 19-21, as well as online!

SotM 2022 will be a 3-day hybrid conference making it possible to take part in the annual global celebration of OpenStreetMap either in-person or online, or both.

The conference will take place before the FOSS4G 2022 conference, which is also in Firenze on August 22 to 28, 2022. The local team is committed to providing participants with a safe conference environment in accordance with the latest safety and health guidelines set by authorities.

Petar Milošević, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

We are very looking forward to collaborating with the Firenze team to organize an innovative and safe experience at State of the Map 2022, with sessions accessible and inclusive as much as possible for our passionate audience.

More details about the organization, call for presentations and tickets will be soon communicated.
See you in Firenze in August!


SotM Organising Committee

Follow us @sotm to stay updated on the next steps of the process!
The State of the Map conference is the annual, international conference of OpenStreetMap, organised by the OpenStreetMap Foundation. The OpenStreetMap Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation, formed  in the UK to support the OpenStreetMap Project. It is dedicated to  encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free geospatial  data for anyone to use and share. The OpenStreetMap Foundation owns and  maintains the infrastructure of the OpenStreetMap project. The State of the Map Organising Committee is one of our volunteer Working Groups.
OpenStreetMap was  founded in 2004 and is an international project to create a free map  of  the world. To do so, we, thousands of volunteers, collect data about   roads, railways, rivers, forests, buildings and a lot more worldwide.   Our map data can be downloaded for free by everyone and used for any   purpose – including commercial usage. It is possible to produce your  own  maps which highlight certain features, to calculate routes, etc.  OpenStreetMap is increasingly used when one needs maps which can be  very  quickly, or easily, updated.