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Board/Minutes/2026-05

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Participants

["talk" time* during public section] Director's name

  • [18'] Craig Allan (Chairing)
  • [04'] Dani Waltersdorfer
  • [03'] Héctor Ochoa Ortiz
  • [01'] Laura Mugeha
  • [00'] Maurizio Napolitano (Napo, connection issues)
  • [00'] Roland Olbricht (joined ~20' after start, microphone issues)

*Includes time when the microphone was activated due to noise.

Absent

  • Brazil Singh

Officers and Board Historic
Board member biographies Historic
Minutes by Dorothea Kazazi.

Guests

  • 4 guests

Open to all OSM Foundation members. (Become a member of the Foundation, even for free if you are an active OSM contributor)

You are welcome to ask questions or to comment (via voice or on the chat) at the end of the meeting.

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Administrative

Approval of previous minutes

Circular Resolutions

2026/Res09 SotM2026 travel

The board resolves to book and pay the hotel, the flights, and the usual cost per travel policy for the seven board members as well as Dorothea for the upcoming State of the Map (SOTM) 2026 in Paris.

Approved on 2026-05-23 with 7 votes in favour: Héctor Ochoa Ortiz, Laura Mugeha , Roland Olbricht, Daniela Waltersdorfer, Maurizio Napolitano, Brazil Singh, Craig Allan (I agree. This the normal arrangement for any global SotM. Extending the travel for tourism is Ok, bringing a partner is Ok, but OSMF will only pay for the Board member's SotM trip and associated costs.)

Circular by Dani Waltersdorfer.

Chairperson's report

Draft minutes.

Creating a Memorandum of Understanding template regarding OSM data licensing for government users and an MoU for the US Department of Transport

Craig is drafting a memorandum of understanding (MoU) template regarding OSM data licensing for government users. This was triggered by Dani's contact with Derald Dudley from the US Department of Transport1. The document is mostly complete and Craig will circulate the proposed MoU to the board and then to the Licensing Working Group (LWG) for review.

1 Note: On 2026-04-20 Dani presented at the US National Academies expert meeting, Bureau of Transportation geospatial products. OSMF Board GitLab ticket #996.

Replying to incoming communications about boundary issues

The board has received complaints regarding boundaries in

Craig has responded to the first two complaints.

The Ambassador of Cyprus in London sent a heartfelt letter to Craig, explaining how he was in Cyprus when the Turkish government invaded. However, this does not change the OSMF's policy.

Rewriting the information for officials and diplomats of countries and entities with disputed territories

Craig has drafted a revision the document for officials and diplomats of countries and entities with disputed territories, which was approved in September 2013, and which is referred to by the Data Working Group (DWG) and the OSMF. Craig circulated his draft to the board for feedback. The updated version will likely get published on the OSMF website and used as a reference for enquiries to OSMF about territorial issues.

The OSMF's policy is that borders on osm.org reflect areas of control - i.e. which police and army are in charge in a particular area.

Comment on complaint about Cyprus boundary

Simon Poole (guest, former OSMF Chair and former LWG Chair) commented on the chat that he had a rather drawn out discussion with the Cypriot representative in London many years ago, which led to OSMF creating the current policy document.

Suggestion: Involve Simon in reviewing the updated policy document.

Interviewed by student in Netherlands

Craig and Héctor were interviewed by a student in the Netherlands, looking at scalable data models for new data ecosystems.

Face-to-face board meeting in June

Allen Gunn (Aspiration Tech), the facilitator of the face-to-face board meeting in June, asked all board members to suggest topics for the agenda. Craig has sent a detailed response. Craig also thanked Héctor for providing the invitation letter in Spanish, which Craig used for his Visa application.

Post-meeting notes:

  • Date: 5–7 June 2026
  • Location: Madrid - hosted at TomTom’s office.
  • Attendees: Brazil and Dorothea will be unable to attend.

Fundraising

The board needs to raise funds to support the hiring of a second systems operator.

Board and CWG meeting

The board's scheduled meeting with the Communication Working Group (CWG), was postponed due to low attendance. Craig will organise another meeting within the next month.

Hiring a second systems operator

The preparatory work is proceeding. Craig has created a draft job description, and a profile of the ideal candidate. Craig has contacted Dani and Héctor about this. The next step is to decide the composition of the hiring committee.

Arranging a donation for GeoChicas

The board approved a grant of GBP 250 - as the funds are tight - to GeoChicas, for one of their meetings and a workshop. Craig praised Laura for declaring her conflict of interest and abstaining from voting. Craig also noted that Laura's abstention sets a great example and shows that conflicts of interest are taken seriously.

Verification on Companies House

Craig completed his identity verification for Companies House.

Secretary's report

Draft minutes.

Geospatial World Forum 2026 attendance by Héctor

Héctor attended the Geospatial World Forum 2026, which provided opportunities for networking. As a result, the board will discuss the potential creation of an OSM course, to be hosted at Geoversity.

Face-to-face board meeting in June

The board's face-to-face meeting is scheduled for the first weekend of June (6–7 June), in Madrid. Brazil and Dorothea will not be able to attend. Dani thanked TomTom (Corporate Member) for offering their Madrid office for the meeting.

Arranging a donation for GeoChicas

The board approved a grant of £250 to GeoChicas to support their in-person workshop, around the time of the State of the Map Latin America 2026 conference.

Meeting with US Department of Transportation about licensing agreement

The board met with Derald Dudley of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, US Department of Transportation, to discuss a licensing agreement. Further details will follow. Craig is preparing a document to share.

State of the Map 2026 attendance

Board members and Dorothea Kazazi will attend the State of the Map (SotM) 2026 conference in August.

Reviving the Communications Working Group

The board is working to revive the Communication Working Group (CWG). Dani noted that she cannot lead the CWG meetings, as she is the board's liaison and board members should not direct working group activities.

Treasurer's report

Deferred to the next meeting due to microphone issues.

Proposed OSM course at Geoversity

Héctor had a follow-up meeting with Geoversity on 19 May 2026, to discuss creating an OSM course and hosting it on their platform.

On cost
Héctor informed Geoversity that OSMF wants to make the proposed OSM course, to be hosted by them, free and open. However, Geoversity said that it is difficult to make the course fully free, due to platform maintenance costs. They suggested charging either for the course or for the certificate of completion. Part of the money could also be donated to OSMF. Geoversity offered to have a board member participate in their podcast for free - the podcast could be recorded in a couple of weeks, during Héctor's visit to the Netherlands.

Next decisions

  • Whether to proceed with the OSM course creation.
  • On the syllabus.
  • On the financial aspects.

Concerns

  • Bundling a donation into an OSM course.
  • Asking people to pay for OSM certificates seems unfair, as some community members might be well knowledgeable about OSM but unable to afford the cost of a certificate.
    • the cost might be acceptable, if it is only a few euros.
    • there are several free and open courses on OSM.

Roland joined ~ 20' after start.

Suggestions

  • Accept Geoversity's offer for a board member to participate in their podcast, as it would be useful for raising awareness.
  • Agree with the creation of a short, free OSM course, with a paid certificate available on course completion.

Other points mentioned during discussion

  • The course would not be an official university course.
  • The certificate of completion will have our logo, the Geoversity logo and state that the person completed the course. It could be mentioned on CVs.

Action item

Héctor to follow up with Geoversity.

Banking strategy

Topic proposed by Roland. Internal board GitLab ticket #1049 (accessible to board members).

Deferred to the next meeting due to microphone issues.

Mandatory questions for new Normal OSMF members

Deferred to the next meeting due to microphone issues.

Any other business

Board election

The board to set a date for the 2026 board election.

This was mentioned before the official start of the meeting.

Creating an account on Monetum

This topic was briefly mentioned before the Treasurer's report.

Bitcoin donations to OSM had been handled so far by Grant Slater (Senior Site Reliability Engineer). As this may become a tax liability for Grant, OSMF is in process of creating an OSMF account on Monetum, which is a Bitcoin exchange service. Héctor mentioned that OSMF submitted all the paperwork for the creation of the new account yesterday.

OSMF moderation team's report for the last 12 months

Allan Mustard (OSMF moderation team Chair and former OSMF Chair) published the OSMF Moderation team's report for the last 12 months. One lifetime ban was issued.

The board appreciates the Moderation team's work.

Motion to thank the OSMF moderation team

The board to formally thank the OSMF moderation team.

Approved on 2026-05-28 with 6 votes in favour: Craig Allan, Daniela Waltersdorfer,Héctor Ochoa Ortiz, Laura Mugeha, Maurizio Napolitano, Roland Olbricht, .
1 did not vote: Brazil Singh (absent).

Proposed by Craig Allan, seconded by Roland Olbricht.

Action item

The board to formally thank the OSMF Moderation team for their work.

Guest comments or questions

No questions or comments during this section.

Next meetings

Face-to-face board meeting: Friday 5 June to Sunday 7 June 2026, in Madrid, Spain.

See the Monthly Board meetings page, where board meetings are listed, to get a subscription link to have future board meetings automatically added to your calendar.

Mid-month board chat: 11 June 2026 at 13:00 UTC, unless rescheduled

Not open to observers. About mid-month board chats.

Dates: See this Framagenda calendar (yellow dots).

Open board meeting: Thursday, 25 June 2026, at 13:00 UTC, unless rescheduled

Dates of open board meetings: on this Framagenda calendar (green dots), and the board meetings page.

Add future board meetings to your calendar'

If you want future board meetings to be automatically added to your calendar, you can subscribe (please do not download the file) to the following iCalendar link. Instructions on how to do that depend on which calendar software/service you use. The link is provided for your convenience. Please note that:

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  • Both public and non-public meetings are added to this calendar. The later ones have a note in their description about being non-public.

Closed session

Proposal by Minh Nguyễn to change Pablo Brasero Moreno's hourly rate

Héctor proposed a closed session at the end of this meeting, in order to discuss the suggestion by Minh Nguyễn (OSM core software development facilitator, Sovereign Tech Agency contractor) to change Pablo Brasero Moreno's (OSM core software engineer, Sovereign Tech Agency contractor) workday rate.

During the closed session, the following topics were also discussed:

  • Paying contractor in Peru
  • Board face-to-face meeting in June: logistics
  • Board at State of the Map 2026: logistics

Paying contractor in Peru

Rubén López Mendoza (Sovereign Tech Agency contractor for GPS trace revamp) is in Peru and the OSMF could not make the payments via the OSMF Bank of Ireland account, as Bank of Ireland does not make payments to Peru.

  • Michelle Heydon (OSMF bookkeeper) confirmed to Roland (Treasurer) that she can pay Rubén from the OSMF Fire EU account and from the OSMF Triodos bank account.
  • Roland hasn't received any notification from Fire EU that they unblocked access to the OSMF account.
  • Héctor has access to the OSMF Xero bookkeeping account.

Board face-to-face meeting in June: logistics

The board meeting coincides with the Pope's visit to Madrid.

  • The Pope's parade route passes near the hotel - extra metro services will be available.
  • Free bus transport during that weekend, free bicycles, free museum nights.
  • Roland will join without his family.

Suggestions

  • Invite TomTom staff to lunch and dinner. TomTom has provided their Madrid office to the OSMF board for their meeting.
  • Invite Madrid OSM community members to dinner, including former board member Ivan Sánchez Ortega.

Board at State of the Map 2026: logistics

Craig to buy Laura's flight tickets for SotM 2026 (Kenya to Paris). He will need the scan of her passport and details of a contact for emergencies.

Laura can select the seats or set food preferences later.

The open session lasted 28 minutes. The closed session lasted 26 minutes.

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