Local Chapters and Communities Working Group - OpenStreetMap Foundation
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From OpenStreetMap Foundation
The
Local Chapters and Communities Working Group
LCCWG
) is tasked with finding and implementing ways for the Foundation to support the growth of local communities and potentially encourage established communities to further organise themselves and eventually formally affiliate with the Foundation as one of its
Local Chapters
. Aside from that, the LCCWG will also facilitate a global exchange of ideas and support among Local Chapters and communities and review and suggest improvements to the Local Chapters affiliation scheme.
OpenStreetMap is a global project and mappers are self-organising at the local level to collaborate with each other and to hold events such as workshops, mapathons, and mapping parties. As an organisation with a global mission, the Foundation may not always be best placed to reach and support such mappers, especially people speaking in languages other than English. This is the reason why the Foundation set up the Local Chapters Working Group in 2011 to formulate an affiliation scheme to recognise Local Chapters. This task was finally done in August 2014 when the Board
approved
the
template agreement
that is signed between recognised Local Chapters and the Foundation, and the working group then became inactive.
Since then, several Local Chapters have been approved by the Foundation and some interested OSMF members have reconvened (pivotally, during State of the Map 2018) with the intention of restarting the working group as the Local Chapters and Communities Working Group. Regular meetings started in September 2019 and the Board
approved the relaunch
of the LCCWG as an official Foundation working group.
Focus items
The following are the three focus items that the working group will concentrate on:
Building local community cohesion
Facilitating a global exchange of ideas
Improving the Local Chapters affiliation scheme
We will explore and develop ideas for the Foundation support the growth of Local Chapters and local communities, including helping mappers communicate or meet up with other local mappers, and working to reduce the challenges created by the fragmented nature of OSM.
We will aim to provide Local Chapters and local communities with venues and communication channels to exchange ideas and share best practices in growing their communities. This may include reviving/managing the local-chapters mailing list and organizing sessions like the Local Chapters Congress during State of the Map or other events.
We will review the role of Local Chapters within the Foundation and the interactions between them. Based on our findings we will make recommendations to the Board as to how the affiliation scheme can be improved to provide a stronger case for local communities to eventually become Local Chapters, or possibly suggest creating new affiliation models such as less-formal user groups.
Who we are
The current members of the working group are the following people:
Name
Local community
Remarks
Muluba Bienvenu
🇨🇩
OpenStreetMap RDC
Maggie Cawley
🇺🇸
OpenStreetMap US
OSM US Executive Director
Nicholas Chavent
Francophonie community
HOT founding member
Charles Chilufya
🇿🇲
Zambia local community
Local Knowledge Mappers chairperson and co-founder
Naveen Francis
🇮🇳
India local community
Besfort Guri
🇽🇰
FLOSSK* (OSM Kosovo)
FLOSSK Board member and
OSMF Advisory Board member
Adam Hoyle
🇬🇧
OpenStreetMap United Kingdom*
OSM UK Director
Geoffrey Kateregga
🇺🇬
OpenStreetMap Uganda
OSM UG Chair, HOT East Africa Hub Community Manager, and OSMF Microgrants Committee member
Anisa Kuci
🇮🇹
Wikimedia Italia
OSM project manager
Michael Montani
🇺🇳
United Nations Mappers
Héctor Ochoa Ortiz
🇪🇸
Asociación OpenStreetMap España
AOE President and
OSMF board member
Jorge Gustavo Rocha
🇵🇹
OSGeo Portugal
OSGeo Portugal President
Joost Schouppe
🇧🇪
OpenStreetMap Belgium
OSMBE Board member
Patrick Stählin
🇨🇭
Swiss OpenStreetMap Association
SOSM Board member and
OSMF Advisory Board member
Arnalie Vicario
🇵🇭
Philippines local community
Eugene Alvin Villar
🇵🇭
Philippines local community
Local Chapter
In addition Laura Mugeha is the designated
Board
liaison with Brazil Singh as backup.
Former working group members
The following were members of either the original Local Chapters Working Group or the current one. People marked with a * are still following the local@osmfoundation.org mailing list or are active in the chatroom.
Clifford Snow
Hrvoje Bogner
Emilie Laffray
Douglas Ssebaggala
Christian Quest
Dimitar Dimitrov
Hugo Holscher
Gerhardus Geldenhuis
Mikel Maron*
Rob Nickerson
Sophie Mower
Simon Poole*
Stefano Sabatini
Jonathan Beliën
Join us!
People who are interested to become a working group member should
contact
the working group and then join the next
meeting
where the working group can then approve the membership.
There is currently no limit to the number of members or the length of a member's term and it is not necessary to represent a recognised Local Chapter to become a member. To avoid over dominance by any particular group, existing local communities are advised to coordinate their participation. The working group's suggestion is that these groups nominate up to two representatives.
Get in touch
You can get in touch with the whole working group at:
local@osmfoundation.org
Discussions and official announcements with the wider community are done via the local-chapters mailing list. You can subscribe to this list here:
For quick chats and light discussions, we have an integrated channel you can reach via any of the following options:
Telegram
Matrix/Element
IRC
(#osmcommunity on OFTC)
LCCWG Moderation Subcommittee
In December 2020, the OpenStreetMap Foundation (OSMF) Board
set out
to “find partners to help instate a moderator team for the OSMF-talk and talk mailing lists” and in their December 2020 meeting requested that the LCCWG take the lead on this initiative. Subsequently, this group has been formed as a subcommittee of LCCWG. The Moderation Subcommittee is a temporary group of OSM community members working on
this Scope of Work
via
this Implementation Plan.
Learn more about participants and find links to any draft documents
on the subcommittee's page
LCCWG Affiliation Model Subcommittee
The
LCCWG Affiliation Model Subcommittee
is a volunteer group of OSM community members assembled by the LCCWG to advance the improvement of OSMF Affiliation Model agenda.
Community survey
In 2020, the LCCWG conducted a survey of several Local Chapters and communities to see how the Foundation can improve its relationship with the Chapters and support them and the local communities. The final report is here:
2020 LCCWG Survey-1.pdf
Meeting and minutes
The LCCWG regularly meets almost every month and is held remotely, usually through Big Blue Button. Anybody is free to join the meeting!
Meetings will be held and chaired by the working group chairperson. Members shall be notified about meetings at least 5 days in advance of each meeting. It is recommended that the announcement include an agenda. This will provide time for members to gather input from their local communities.
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
2026
Feb 5
Mar 5
2025
Feb 6
Mar 6
Apr 10
Jun 5
Jul 3
Aug 7
Sep 4
Nov 6
Dec 4
2024
Jan 31
Feb 28
Mar 27
Apr 24
Jun 26
Jul 31
Aug 8
Sep 5
Oct 9
Nov 7
Dec 5
2023
Jan 30
Feb 27
Apr 24
May 29
Jun 27
Jul 31
Aug 28
Sep 25
Oct 30
Nov 27
2022
Forthcoming
2021
Jan 25
Feb 22
Mar 22
Apr 26
May 31
Jun 28
Jul 25
Aug 30
Sep 27
Oct 25
Dec 20
2020
Jan 20
Feb 17
Mar 23
Apr 20
May 18
Jun 15
Jul 20
Aug 17
Sep 21
Oct 19
Nov 23
2019
No LCCWG yet
Sep 3
Oct 9
Nov 12
LCWG (previous WG)
2014-08-03
(draft)
2013-11-27
2013-09-20
2013-03-21
2011-04-19
2011-04-06
2011-03-16
Useful links
Local Chapters page on the OSM Wiki
LCCWG GitLab repository
LCWG GitHub repository
(defunct)
Retrieved from "
Category
Working Groups