Hi everyone,

There have been conversations in the OSM community about creating a more formalised group to coordinate OSM activities in the region. This would be important step to getting recognition as a local chapter of the OpenStreetMap Foundation which would in turn allow us to collaborate more closely and potentially be eligible for grants and support going forward.

By formalised group, we were thinking of a working group that would be part of OSGeo Oceania. An initial discussion was initiated here. Please note that this application relates to the application we made to the OSMF to have OSGeo recognised as a local chapter.

FOSS4G SotM Oceania 2019 in Wellington, New Zealand

Some of the objectives of a working group we discussed include:

• Growing the number of people contributing to OSM as well as the overall number of edits in our region.
• Coordinating with authorities and companies in the region to get access to new data for OSM, but also to show how OSM can be used by these organisations.
• Introducing students and any interested members of the public to mapping
• Coordinating mapping events to focus on thematic mapping tasks such as humanitarian mapping, bushfire mapping, wheelchair accessibility etc.
• Serving as a point of contact for anyone around the world or locally interested in engaging the Oceania OSM community.
• Running and maintaining infrastructure such as tile servers that could help to grow OSM in our region.

To get things moving forward:

• Do you think an OSM focused working group under OSGeo Oceania is a good idea?
• What other objectives do you think are important?
• Would you be willing to lead this working group or be part of it? Leading the working group would require a formalization of the objectives and the working group team.

Observing the direction other countries and regions around the world have taken, I’m confident an OSM working group and eventually a local chapter would be a huge step forward for OSM as a whole in Oceania.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Edoardo