[Osmf-talk] [Candidacy] AGM Foundation 2010 - Girona

[Oliver Kühn]

Hi,

as I am another candidate for the board election that runs from today until
July 9th I would like to append this post by my manifesto that represents my
view and thoughts on OpenStreetMap. A brief personal overview can be found
here [1].

I would also like to refer to the overview and process for this election:
[2]. Please note that you can vote for up to three candidates.

Best Regards,
Oliver

[1] http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/User:Oliver.kuehn
[2] http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Foundation/AGM10/Election_to_Board

*Oliver's OSMF Board Election 2010 Manifesto

Introduction*

OpenStreetMap is a fantastic project. It attracts more and more
contributors. The map coverage is developing fast, shows an immense dynamic
and gains a very interesting level of details in specific areas. While the
contributors and the map coverage is growing fast, the usage of
OpenStreetMap data lacks behind. Most users that just want to "consume" a
map go to sources like Google Maps while many companies that are interested
in OpenStreetMap data remain hesitant because they are feeling insecure in
regards of the share-a-like license. For me it seems like that part of the
OpenStreetMap potential remains untapped.

*My ultimate aim*

My ultimate aim is to help that the OpenStreetMap project unfolds its own
ecosystem by discovering and claiming its (market) segment in the digital
mapping turf - regardless if it is special interest maps, outstanding
detailed coverage or whatever. I want to help that OpenStreetMap becomes a
viable alternative in the Open Geo stack when users, developers or companies
need a digital map. My intention is to help that OpenStreetMap achieves the
acceptance and respect it deserves among developers and companies so that an
ecosystem can evolve.

*What change*

There are three specific goals that I want to pursue:

(1) Improve the communication among mappers, companies, developers: Make
transparent for which use cases the map is appropriate, where its strengths
and weaknesses are by ?decrypting? the license, providing better information
and statistics about the map coverage as well as the available map
attributes. From my discussions I know that many companies are interested in
using OpenStreetMap but remain reluctant as they fear that proprietary data
will become ?public data?. On the other hand many people consider OSM as a
playground for techies as they have taken their last closer look at the map
more than 18 months ago and this impression still prevails.

(2) Help to identify a spot in the digital mapping turf that gives the
OpenStreetMap project a long-term perspective and builds upon the strengths
of OpenStreetMap. Most activities in the OSM community are related to the
fun stuff like mapping, inventing new map attributes or coding software
solutions related to OSM. While the OpenStreetMap project attracts more and
more users, most activities are not crosschecked against a long-term
strategy. Many values have been established in the OpenStreetMap community
and there seems to be something in the air, which makes all the active
contributors belief in the project. However, the vision, mission and values
need to be distilled and transformed into words so that they become explicit
and serve as guideline for short- and mid-term decisions as well as to
inspire even more people to join the OpenStreetMap project as active
contributors.

(3) Protect the OpenStreetMap project from exploitation by large companies.
There is a lot of money at stake: Nokia paid $8.1 billion for Navteq, TomTom
paid EUR1.8 billion for TeleAtlas. The map maker acquisitions during
2007 led
to fact that there no more independent commercial map makers on a global
scale. Many players have now to purchase map data licenses from their
fiercest competition. Due to this situation there are many companies out
there that are interested in having their own map. In the US market there is
the Tiger data set, which has been used to build a digital map database. The
situation is different in Europe and other places on the world where such a
free "raw database" does not exist. It is an act of balance to protect the
IP on the one hand and to encourage the use of the OpenStreetMap data on the
other hand. Therefore it needs significant attention. Since the
OpenStreetMap data are a scarce resource in many places of the world these
data need to be protected against exploitations. While others would like to
see OpenStreetMap as public domain, I am a supporter for well balanced
license.



On 01.07.2010 19:25, Emilie Laffray wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am writing to the list to mention that I will be running for the
> board for the upcoming election for the foundation. After lot of
> thinking, I have decided that I could potentially contribute to the
> community in a different way in order to help OSM achieve its goal.
> I am including my manifesto at the end of that email.
>
> Emilie Laffray
>
>
> *OSMF Board 2010*
>
> *Introduction*
> I started getting involved in OpenStreetMap in Automn 2008 where I
> spent most of my time looking at understanding how it worked before
> finally joining the site in 2009. My initial interest was to find a
> free source of geographical data to remove the proprietary data that
> my company (u-blox) was using.
> Since I started mapping, I added my hometown in France and did most of
> the mapping North of Orleans, based on GPS tracks that I did, and
> mostly on the cadastre (geographical data used for tax purposes) which
> proved to be a very powerful tool to map France.
> I am involved in the English and French communities, and active on
> many international mailing lists. I have also been involved in the
> Corine Land Cover import in France, where I wrote most of the SQL code
> to check for overlapping polygons to make sure that the community
> wouldn't lose polygons for something that was of lower quality.
> In addition, I have been getting involved with the organization of the
> State Of The Map 2010 in Gerona, Spain.
> When I have the time and opportunity, I am also talking about
> OpenStreetMap (OpenKnowledge Conference 2010, London and SIG La Lettre
> 2010, Paris) on different topics like data quality and Haiti.
> Being involved in the State Of The Map conference really gave me the
> feeling that I could do more for OpenStreetMap, and it is one reason
> for standing for election.
>
> *Statement*
> I strongly believe that OpenStreetMap needs to communicate better
> about the different projects that are currently being developed in the
> different communities. Some projects are very good, but are
> unfortunately restricted to one community only due to lack of
> promotion of the tools being developped. In addition, it is clear that
> some communities would beneficiate from the help of more mature
> communities in order to help the mapping effort. While English needs
> to stay the main language, it is a language that not many people are
> necessarily speaking fluently and it is important that bridges are
> built to work around those difficulties.
>
> *Goals*
> If I get elected, I would like to push the following points:
>
>     * Better communication from the Foundation
>     * Better support of community projects
>     * Better support to non English speaking communities
>     * Working towards reducing the barrier of entry to mapping
>
>
>
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