State of the Map

State of the Map
Ken Vermette based on https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:OpenStreetMap-Logo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Name	State of the Map
Genre	Mapping conference
First	2007
Organizer	OpenStreetMap Foundation
Frequency	Annual
Location	Various

State of the Map is an annual conference associated with OpenStreetMap Foundation that gathers contributors, developers, cartographers, and researchers to discuss themes in digital mapping, geospatial data, open-source software, humanitarian mapping, and community governance. The event features keynote addresses, technical workshops, mapathons, and presentations that showcase projects, tools, and collaborations across civic tech, disaster response, and academic research. Participants include representatives from organizations such as Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, Mapbox, Microsoft, Facebook, and universities like Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Oxford.

History

The conference emerged from early meetups among contributors to OpenStreetMap and collaborators from projects like HOTOSM; initial gatherings coincided with growth in crowdsourced mapping activities and integration with platforms such as Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, and OpenLayers. Early editions featured participants from institutions including Bing Maps partners, members of European Commission geospatial initiatives, and researchers from University College London and ETH Zurich. Over time the conference attracted speakers from Esri, CartoDB, and NGOs like Médecins Sans Frontières that used open geodata in humanitarian response, leading to collaborations with agencies such as United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and funders including Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Organization and Format

Organized by the OpenStreetMap Foundation with local volunteer teams often linked to national chapters such as OpenStreetMap US, OpenStreetMap UK, and OpenStreetMap France, the conference combines plenary keynotes, parallel tracks, workshop rooms, and community unconference sessions. Typical programming includes technical talks referencing tools like JOSM, iD editor, Leaflet, and integrations with cloud providers like Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform used by corporate partners such as Mapbox and Microsoft. Funding and sponsorship have involved firms such as Esri, Carto, Mapillary, and foundations like Mozilla Foundation and Open Knowledge Foundation, while logistics have interacted with local institutions including Universität Heidelberg, King’s College London, and municipal bodies like City of Milan.

Conferences by Year and Location

Since inception, editions have been hosted in diverse cities with local organizers from universities, NGOs, and tech communities. Notable locations include Manchester with local organizers linked to University of Manchester, Amsterdam with participants from Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, Porto involving regional institutions, Tokyo with speakers from Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, Prague with attendees from Charles University, and Heidelberg drawing on Heidelberg University. Other host cities have included Denver, Buenos Aires, Milan, Stuttgart, and Lille. Each year’s program often highlighted regional collaborations involving organizations such as Red Cross, Save the Children, and academic partners like University of California, Berkeley and Imperial College London.

Notable Presentations and Projects

Sessions have presented innovations in routing, remote sensing, and participatory mapping, featuring projects such as integrations with OpenStreetMap data by Mapbox, machine learning approaches from teams at Facebook AI Research, imagery companies like Maxar Technologies and Planet Labs, and academic research from MIT Media Lab and University of Washington. Humanitarian mapping case studies from Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team and disaster response collaborations with International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies showcased mapping for Haiti earthquake (2010), Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa, and flood response in regions covered by United Nations Development Programme. Technical talks described tooling improvements in editors like JOSM and iD editor, data validation with projects such as OSMCha, and visualization using QGIS and Kepler.gl.

Community and Outreach

The conference emphasizes volunteer contribution, capacity building, and partnerships with civil society; outreach has involved mapathons organized with HOTOSM, collaborations with academic courses at University of Southampton and University of Cambridge, and engagement with civic initiatives such as Code for America and Open Knowledge Foundation. Local chapters and regional events like State of the Map US and State of the Map EU (local organizers from OpenStreetMap US and OpenStreetMap Foundation) promote mentoring, diversity efforts connected to organizations like Women in Maps and inclusivity programs inspired by initiatives at Mozilla Foundation. Outreach has also linked to open data portals maintained by bodies such as European Data Portal and municipal open data teams in cities like Barcelona and New York City.

Criticism and Controversies

The conference and its community have faced debates over governance, data licensing, and corporate sponsorship. Controversies included disputes around licensing changes affecting collaborations with entities like Microsoft and imagery providers such as Bing Maps, discussions about ethical use of commercial imagery from firms like DigitalGlobe (now part of Maxar Technologies), and concerns raised by contributors about relations with corporations including Facebook and Amazon. Community governance tensions surfaced involving chapters and the OpenStreetMap Foundation over representation, participation, and moderation policies, echoing broader debates in open-source communities similar to those confronted by projects like Linux Foundation and Apache Software Foundation.

Category:Conferences