Hi all, Something I've been thinking about for a while now, is that we should look to forming into a proper entity i.e. an official OpenStreetMap Ireland chapter of OSM.
A few reasons off the top of my head why I'd like to push ahead with this: - We will have representatives who can speak with authority to the press if required. - The Open data / Open Government movement has been steadily growing over the last 18-24 months here. Every event I've been to, at some point, I've had to utter the line "well at the moment we are just a group of people editing on OSM, there is no "Openstreetmap Ireland". Given the volume of work and effort that people have put it, its embarrassing to say that line. - When we go looking for maps and/or data we are an actual entity. That lends weight to any requests we make. The further we take this in relation to what type of a body we are (non-incorporated, incorporated, recognised chapter of OSMF) - Further down the line, it opens up the possibility of getting funding / sponsorship. As it stands right now, companies are unlikely to give any significant kind of donation to us, ever, as they can not write it off as a donation because, essentially, we don't exist. I would like to - I would like to see us move up a gear in terms of organisation. What I mean by this is to take it to the next level in terms of meetup's, for example, a weekend meetup over a Sat & Sun in, say, Athlone (its central and is in need of some love mapwise) where a load of us would meetup, survey and map. Prior to going there though, we'd look for a local mapper who can get into schools or colleges with a few posters, get on to the local free paper to do a piece, chat to local radio etc to promote the event. - I would like to see us pushing more in the area of advocacy e.g. advocating for the use of OSM by local govt. and advocating for the release of data held by local govt's (if they are using our maps, give us stuff to make them better). - Finally, there is no reason, none whatsoever, why we shouldn't be able to start organising our own State of the Map for Ireland. We have more than enough going on to fill 1-2 days worth of a conference but a major roadblock to this would be the sponsorship aspect. I've looked into what would be involved, and starting out, there will be a body of work to be completed, but its by no means insurmountable. If there is generally positive feedback the next step would be to agree how to proceed and what format of an organisation we should be come. I have some thoughts on all of that, but I'll hold off for a few days to see what the thoughts are on this proposal. Thanks, Dave (DaCor) _______________________________________________ Talk-ie mailing list Talk-ie@openstreetmap.org https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-ie