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Board/Minutes/2026-02

From OpenStreetMap Foundation

Date and time: Thursday 26 February at 13:00 UTC - Countdown.

Minutes approved during the 2026-03-26 board meeting.

Location: Video room https://osmvideo.cloud68.co/user/dor-2cd-qah-rim

Acronyms

Participants

["talk" time*] Director's name

  • [<1'] Brazil Singh (joined 5' after start)
  • [33'] Craig Allan (Chairing)
  • [20'] Héctor Ochoa Ortiz
  • [02'] Laura Mugeha
  • [11'] Roland Olbricht
  • [<1'] Maurizio Napolitano (Napo) (joined 20' after start)

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

Absent

  • Dani Waltersdorfer (Apologies)

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

Guests

  • 9 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.

  • Please mute your microphone when you join, and to preserve bandwidth, refrain from turning on your webcam.
  • If you are in a low-bandwidth environment, you may benefit from using BigBlueButton's low-bandwidth settings. To assess them, click on the 3 dots on the top right of the black video-window.

Administrative

Approval of previous minutes

  • 2026-01-29 Approved. The budget will be linked from the minutes, once it gets published by the Treasurer tomorrow afternoon.

Circular Resolutions

2026/Res02 Contract signing for GPS traces revamp

The board notes and approves the contract signing with Cloud for Geo S.A.C. (registered in Peru, with signatory being Fermin Yupanqui Mendoza as General Manager) as a contractor for revamping the GPS traces function of OpenStreetMap. Rubén López Mendoza will be the developer to undertake the work from the contractor's side. The payment comes from the Sovereign Tech Fund, and the rate has been discussed with the Personnel Committee and Core Software Development Facilitator. Details on the contract can be seen on board internal emails, and on issues board#974 and stf#3.

Approved on 2026-02-25 with 5 votes in favour: Héctor Ochoa Ortiz, Daniela Waltersdorfer, Maurizio Napolitano, Laura Mugeha Craig Allan.
2 did not vote: Brazil Singh, Roland Olbricht.

Circular by Héctor Ochoa Ortiz.

Chairperson's report

Report skipped.

Secretary's report

Report by Dani, provided before the meeting. Headers added by Dorothea.

"I want to start by offering a warm welcome to everyone today. Thank you once again for taking the time to meet with us, stay engaged, and continue supporting the work we do together. Before diving into updates, I want to briefly acknowledge that I’ve been a bit MIA due to some medical obstacles. I appreciate everyone’s patience, I've been working a bit in the background so I'd like to provide you some updates."

Scraping and bot activity

"First, a BIG thank‑you to everyone who helped amplify our call to speak with journalists about the major issue we’re facing with scraping and bot activity. Your posts, shares, and messages across social media and communication channels have made a real difference. You’ve likely seen some of the coverage already—such as this piece from OpenDemocracy: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/ai-chatbots-scraper-bots-chatgpt-website-offline-change-internet/ This is a critical issue for the project, and it has required an enormous amount of time, care, and persistence from our Operations Working Group. Thank you OWG, and thank you to Grant, who has been tirelessly at the center of this effort. Thank you to everyone who continues to fight the good fight and protect the integrity of our infrastructure."

Board face-to-face meeting

"We also want to share that the Board has begun polling for dates for our next in‑person, all‑weekend workshopping face‑to‑face meeting. These gatherings are essential for aligning our goals, setting priorities, and establishing the standards that guide our work for the year ahead. Right now, late May or early June is looking promising."

Thanks to Héctor

"And before I wrap up, I want to send a special shout‑out to Héctor for his passion, energy, and constant support for the project and always lending a hand to other members of the Board.

With that, I'll actually pass it on to Héctor for more updates."

Additions by Deputy Secretary

Open letter to Google to Keep Android Open

The OpenStreetMap Foundation has signed the open letter to Google to Keep Android Open. The letter was signed two months ago and released yesterday.

New contractor

The board has approved a new contractor to revamp the GPS traces, which is a long standing issue.

Aims:

  • renew the infrastructure regarding GPS traces
  • comply with privacy regulations

Treasurer's report

The Treasurer is working

  • through the backlog. There are some interruptions by other things coming in, such as using the credit card with Hurricane Electric, one of our internet providers.
  • on the draft on OSMF's banking strategy, which he plans to share with the board.

Status of finances

Other points mentioned during discussion

  • No long-standing pending payments.
  • The Treasurer will check on the 8-10 of March for any additional payments for contractors.

2026 board face-to-face meeting update

Skipped, as Dani was not present due to medical reasons.

French Cadastre changes and release of code updates for "OSM components" on GitHub

The French Cadastre wants to fork the OpenStreetMap tech stack. They

  • will use their own data
  • want revisions through pull-requests
  • will release the updated code under an open licence, probably Mozilla Public License 2.0
  • have different audience

and the data will not be wholly public.

They sent a Project Licence and Domain Grandfathering Application to the board, and asked for feedback:

  • on the proposed project name "OpenStreetMap Enterprise" and
  • on the planned changes to the fork of the OSM tech stack.

On why the French Cadastre has turned to OpenStreetMap
Because the OSM data model is pretty good in dealing with disambiguities and contradictions. Due to legal action, the French Cadastre can be in an indefinite state for months to years in some places - and includes disambiguities.

On the proposed names of the French Cadestre project
The French Cadastre's initial proposal was to name the project "OpenStreetMap Enterprise" and asked for feedback from the OSMF board. The Licensing Working Group (LWG) objected to "OpenStreetMap Enterprise", so the French Cadastre then prposed the nane "OpenCollabMap".

  • It is good that the French Cadastre acknowledges the value of OpenStreetMap tech stack by taking a similar name to it.
  • No problem with the new name.
  • It is positive that they've reached out to the board to consult about the name.

Maurizio joined approximately 20' after start.

Presentation during the 2026-01-23 Engineering Working Group (EWG) public meeting
The French Cadastre presented their proposed project, using the OpenCollabMap name, to the EWG, and the EWG's feedback was that the project looks nice on the technical side.

Suggestions

Other points mentioned during discussion

  • As long as they credit correctly, nothing should stop them from going ahead.

Vote to approve the use of the OpenCollabMap name and marks for five years and approve the signing of the project license and domain name application

Motion: The board approves the use of the OpenCollabMap name and marks for five years and approves the signing of the project license and domain name application.

Approved on 2026-02-26 with,

  • 6 votes in favour: Brazil Singh, Craig Allan, Héctor Ochoa Ortiz, Laura Mugeha, Maurizio Napolitano, Roland Olbricht.
  • 1 did not vote: Daniela Waltersdorfer(absent).
Proposed by Héctor, seconded by Brazil.

Guest questions and comments on the chat

  • Paul Norman commented that the project license and domain grandfathering doesn't have any time limit in its text.
  • SeverinGeo asked whether the project will be an open map, or just using the OSM technical frameware for internal work, and the answer was that it will be the latter, and that Cadastral data has a lot of personal data involved.
  • SeverinGeo asked whether people find it logical that any organisation wanting to use the OSM framework could name it 'OpenSomethingMap, and commented that he doesn't quite understand the rationale behind this. And that "Collab" for something that is not open and related only to cadaster does not even make much sense as a name. He also added that 'OpenCollabMap' is a more fitting name to describe what OSM has become since its beginning in 2008. (2004)
  • imagico suggested to check with the French Local Chapter (OSM France), regarding their practice.

Creation of OSMF account on BTC exchange service for BTC donations

Grant Slater (Senior Site Reliability Engineer) was handling exchanges of Bitcoin, donated to OSMF, into fiat. He had to use his personal BTC exchange service account on Coinbase for the conversion, which is inappropriate. Grant suggested that OSMF should create a corporate BTC exchange service account.

Coinbase business accounts are currently available only for United States and Singapore based businesses.

Héctor looked for BTC exchange services in Europe and found:

  • Swapin - two products: SwapinCollect (see the table in the background section above) and SwapinGet.
  • Monetum - the fees were not publicly listed, we have to talk to an advisor.

Suggestion: Contact Monetum and wait for a week, to see if they will answer.

Other points mentioned during discussion

  • The board has a fiduciary responsibility to safeguard the assets of the Foundation.
  • We have 2 BTC from a donation on 2025-12-29 (transaction, post), that need to be converted soon. They have just lost half their value, because we didn't convert them fast enough.
  • Any delegated financial task helps, as the Treasurer has too many OSMF-related financial tasks on his list.
  • If Bitcoin’s price drops below USD 60,000, it could trigger a further decline to USD 50,000–55,000 or even USD 47,000.

Héctor was thanked for his research.

Action item

Héctor to email Monetum and wait for seven days. The board will then have a Circular resolution to authorise the creation of an OSMF account on a BTC exchange service.

Guest questions and comments on the chat

Paul Norman (guest) commented that Bitcoin could go up or down, and that there's no real prediction if a delay will make you better off or not.

Potential OSMF participation in Horizon Europe CSA (GeosTeX)

Enriched with information from the board GitLab ticket.

The company Sploro asked OSMF to participate in a project proposal for European funding. The project will involve different companies to create Geospatial-related open source software.

Napo proposed these tasks/contributions for OSMF

  • Identify and frame challenges relevant to the OSM data ecosystem (e.g. creation of a tool to help the community to improve the data).
  • Evaluating results and outcomes: Assess whether solutions developed through the project align with OSM principles, data needs, and ecosystem sustainability.
  • Dissemination activities: Outreach the OSM community, participation in events, communication and knowledge sharing.

Financial aspects

  • We would be paid after the delivery.
  • Part of the money can be used for the Foundation's sustainability.

Next steps

  • We have to write a statement, about what OSMF is.
  • We need a registration number by the European Commission.
  • We need to decide what project we want.

Other points mentioned during discussion

  • We will register for a PIC number, so that we can participate in the future Horizon projects.
  • If the funding proposal gets accepted, the board will have a discussion.

Suggestion: Document information for future boards.

Decision

Napo to lead OSMF's participation in Horizon Europe CSA (GeosTeX), with help from Dorothea.

No questions or objections.

European Institute of Technology (EIT) communications

Not discussed.

Potential statement/policy for OSMF's participation with other parties in proposals for EU-funded projects

Topic proposed by Héctor and presented by Maurizio. Internal board GitLab ticket #918 (accessible to board members).

Draft blog post: OSMF approach to EU-funded project collaborations

Internal board GitLab ticket #971

The board has been receiving proposals from the community at large, for collaborations on applications for EU funding related to digital commons and sovereignty. Napo has drafted a statement on how OSMF could be involved in proposals for EU-funded projects.

The draft post:

  • presents OSMF
  • highlights that the organisation is mostly based on volunteers
  • proposes OSMF's potential role in funding proposals
  • provides contact information

Napo's draft is at: https://hackmd.io/@j-g1c4BNTIud729PFr3hwg/Hk8qvOdDWl (link shared during the meeting)

Caution: Avoid over-promising, since we have limited resources.

Suggestion: Publish the post in the coming weeks.

Other point mentioned during discussion: There are limitations in what we can do, since we are not necessarily an active implementer.

Decision

The board to offer feedback on Napo's draft statement and discuss the topic during the March closed board chat.

2026 Sovereign Tech Agency call for tenders (STF)

2024 call for tenders

In 2024 OSMF was selected by the Sovereign Tech Agency for a service agreement in the amount of 384,000 EUR over two years (2025 and 2026) to ensure the stability, growth and modernisation of OpenStreetMap’s core software.

As a result of this contract, OSMF created two new roles:

  • OSM core software development facilitator and
  • OSM core software engineer.

There will also be a third position. See the circular 2026/Res02 "Contract signing for GPS traces revamp" above.

2026 call for tenders

The Sovereign Tech Agency has announced a new call for tenders.

Deadline on March 13th, 2026, 10:00 a.m. CET.

They have two frameworks:

  • "Software security" with two different lots: Security audits, Software supply chain management
  • "Direct contributions" with four different lots: Technical Debt, Transition to Memory Safety, Post-Quantum Encryption Readiness, Compliance with CRA.

Two board members mentioned that they were in favour of OSMF applying.

On a potential application

  • There might not be enough time to prepare.
  • The technical people should decide on the selected lots for the application.
  • Some of the contractors, or attendees of this meeting, could help with the application.

Other point mentioned during discussion: The outcome might be positive, as the Sovereign Tech Agency knows us and trust us to deliver what they asked for.

Suggestion: Héctor to lead the application.

Request for comments for GERS as an OGC Community Standard

There is a request for comments from the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) on the justification for the Global Entity Reference System (GERS) Framework and Model as an OGC Community Standard.

Overture's Global Entity Reference System is presented as providing stable universal identifiers for real-world geographic features, that would improve the ability to combine various geodatasets from different sources.

Deadline for comments: in five days.

Minh Nguyễn (OSM core software development facilitator) prepared a draft comment that we could share (link shared with Minh's permission, as he was present during the meeting).

Minh was thanked for preparing the document.

Other point mentioned during discussion: We should explain why it makes or it doesn't make sense that the Overture Maps Foundation has control over the registry of this identifier.

Guest questions and comments on the chat

SeverinGeo commented that OSM can already pretty well be connected to Wikimedia Commons, and that he doesn't know why OGC cannot adopt this instead.

Decision

Craig, Héctor and Minh to provide OSMF's feedback, focusing on the governance side and not on the technical side.

Post meeting notes

Any other business

Guest comments or questions

On OpenCollabMap

Post-meeting note: The question below is related to the board discussion during this meeting about "French Cadastre changes and release of code updates for 'OSM components' on GitHub". There were some additional questions on the chat, while the topic was discussed.

SeverinGeo (guest) commented that he doesn't see the benefit for OpenStreetMap to approve this new name [OpenCollabMap], which doesn't fit well with what the French Cadastre do. Severin added that "OpenCollabMap" is a better description of what OpenStreetMap is and that the French Cadastre will use the OSM framework for internal benefit. He also added that it is like opening Pandora's box, as it sets a precedent.

Comments from board members:

  • The difference with Open[whatever]Map is that we are not competing for people and attention with the French Cadastre.
  • Unclear why the French Cadastre wanted that particular name - maybe they wanted to emphasize the use of the OSM data model, as opposed to just using a classical database.
  • The code that the French Cadastre develops will be open. They want the code to be used by other organisations that may have similar data requirements.
  • The board agreed to the naming for 5 years, and if the board sees that it is not working after that time, the naming right could be revoked.

On involving OSM France (Local Chapter) in the discussion with the French Cadastre

SeverinGeo (guest) also asked whether OSM France was involved in the discussion with the French Cadstre, as an official OSMF Local Chapter.

No. They probably should have been involved.

Decision

Héctor will notify OSM France about OSMF's discussions with the French Cadastre.

On requested feedback from the board regarding OWG's 2026 budget

Paul Norman (guest, Operations Working Group (OWG) volunteer, OSMF contractor) asked whether the OWG will get a response to the questions that he sent to the board in October 2025, regarding OWG's 2026 budget. Paul has been trying to find out the board's plans in relation to OSMF's Strategic Plan, in particular about points that may affect OWG's 2026 plans, but while he asked several times, he hasn't received a response yet. Paul also added that the OWG is preparing a minimal "keep the lights on" OWG budget for 2026, as 1) they had no direction from the board and 2) they had been informally given the feedback that the finances have been extremely tight and the OWG needs to cut back. Paul also clarified that the OWG wants an answer on whether they should look at doing more - not explicit board instructions on what exactly to do.

Items 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4 of the strategic plan involve the OWG or paid resources. These items are

"Does the board plan to work on these in 2026? Hiring staff is a significant budget increase. Although we don't include it in our budget submission, we need to be aware of it when planning."

Comments from board members

  • The board approved OSMF's budget in the previous board meeting, and that includes an OWG line of GBP 50,000 "to be decided", as the board had not answered OWG's email.
  • The board encourages the OWG to spend more on Capex and Opex, and to come back with proposals, which they will likely get approved.
  • Suggestion: The OWG to put together a job description for what is needed, and a costing estimate.

Other points mentioned by board members during discussion

  • The OSMF has to find funds for two jobs: A member for the OPS team to help Grant, and an Executive Director.
    • We don't have the money to fund either of these roles properly.
    • The Executive Director role has the the interesting advantage that they tend to raise their own salaries.
  • Proposals for growth are well-received by potential donors.

Comment by imagico (guest) that Roland is essentially rejecting the very idea of strategic planning.

Roland replied that not really - and that he's rejecting the idea of central planning. Anybody from the Foundation can read the Strategic Plan at any time and decide to implement parts of it.

Decision

Paul and Craig to arrange a meeting, after Paul's request.

Next meetings

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