Hi all, So its been exactly a month since I proposed forming into a proper body and the feedback through email, IRC and facebook (do likes count?) has been overwhelmingly positive, so, on we go :)
The first thing to sort out is will OpenStreetMap Ireland cover the whole island, yes or no. My opinion is that it should. Up to this point, apart from there being an admin boundary between north & south in the OSM data, there has been no separation between us. This includes IRC, mailing list, Facebook group etc. I also personally feel it makes a lot of logistical sense to have both sides of the border as one group if we look at it from a purely geographical point of view and leave politics out. Taking the current townlands mapping project as one example, it would make no sense to run something like that on one side of the border, but not the other. Before we proceed, this question should be discussed and a decision made so I welcome all thoughts on this. Thanks, Dave On Wed, Oct 1, 2014 at 1:37 PM, Dave Corley <davecor...@gmail.com> wrote: > 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
