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Board/Minutes/2026-06

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New recurring meeting time: 12:00 UTC

Date and time: 25 June 2026, at 12:00 UTC
Minutes approved during the 2026-07-30 board meeting.

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

Acronyms

Participants

["talk" time*] Director's name

  • [1<'] Brazil Singh
  • [02'] Craig Allan (joined ~33' after start')
  • [08'] Dani Waltersdorfer
  • [02'] Héctor Ochoa Ortiz (joined ~4' after start)
  • [01'] Maurizio Napolitano (Napo)
  • [26'] Roland Olbricht (Chairing this meeting)

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

Absent

  • Laura Mugeha (apologies)

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

Guests

  • 5 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

Circular Resolutions

2026/Res10 Donation to help GeoChicas

Hello Board,

GeoChicas asked if we could support them with the costs of a meeting and workshop they will be having around the time of SOTM LATAM.

Craig suggested we as the Foundation, donate 250GBP. This circular is to accept and move forward with this donation.

The OSMF will donate 250 GBP to Geochicas for their meeting/workshop.

Approved on 2026-05-28 with 6 votes in favour: Brazil Singh, Maurizio Napolitano, Héctor Ochoa Ortiz, Daniela Waltersdorfer, Craig Allan, Roland Olbricht.
1 abstained: Laura Mugeha (I will sit this one out since I am part of the Geochicas community).

Circular by Dani Waltersdorfer.

Notes:

2026/Res11 The board to approve the EWG's decision on contracting Mateusz Konieczny for work on iD and the iD tagging schema

See the following pull request for details on the proposal: https://github.com/osmfoundation/ewg_bidding/pull/61

The Engineering Working Group approved this proposal at their meeting on 2026-05-29, pending a positive community consultation, which has now been completed.

As the proposed contract has a cap of 9000 GBP, this is greater than 10000 EUR under the current exchange rate, triggering the need for the Board to vote on it, under our Budgets and Procurement Policy.

Approved on 2026-06-20 with 5 votes in favour: Héctor Ochoa Ortiz, Brazil Singh, Maurizio Napolitano, Laura Mugeha, Craig Allan.
2 did not vote: Roland Olbricht, Daniela Waltersdorfer.

Circular by Héctor Ochoa Ortiz.

Chairperson's report

Skipped.

Secretary's report

Face-to-face board meeting

The OpenStreetMap Foundation (OSMF) Board of Directors is pleased to share this update with the community following its recent in-person working session held on June 6–7 in Madrid. Board members Craig Allan (Chair), Dani Waltersdorfer Jimenez (Secretary), Roland Olbricht (Treasurer), Héctor Ochoa Ortiz, Laura Mugeha, Mauricio Napolitano, and facilitator Allen Gunn (Gunner) convened for two full days to align on key priorities and action items for the coming twelve months. These discussions focused on advancing several important initiatives, including the development of a fundraising campaign, the continued process of establishing OSMF within the European Union, the launch of an AI policy, and a new job opening announcement. As part of this effort, the Board will be sharing a job opening for a System Operations Administrator sometime this summer (if you're North of the Equator) or winter (if you're South of the Equator).

A key topic of discussion was the Communications Working Group (CWG), with a renewed commitment to “revive” and strengthen this group to better support communication across the Foundation and the broader OpenStreetMap c ommunity. The Board’s intention is to ensure that the CWG is a space where contributors feel safe, welcomed, and supported when collaborating together. The Board would also like to express its gratitude to all CWG members who have continued their work with passion and dedication, maintaining activity across OSMF’s social media channels and forums.

The meeting was particularly meaningful as it provided a rare opportunity for in-person collaboration, given the global distribution of Board members. Time spent together allowed for deeper discussions, collaborative problem-solving, and meaningful relationship-building, all of which are key to effectively supporting our wonderful OSM Community. The Board emphasizes that the Foundation’s greatest strength continues to be its community, and it remains committed to fostering the human connections and shared purpose that define the project.

The Board would also like to extend its sincere appreciation to TomTom for generously hosting the meeting at its Madrid offices, and to Priscilla Zachée for her exceptional support and presence throughout the weekend. Additional thanks are due to Allen Gunn for his longstanding leadership, facilitation, and organizational expertise, which have been instrumental, productive and impactful for Board discussions over the years.

2026 Annual General Meeting

Additionally, we would like to share that the next Annual General Meeting (AGM) will take place on October 17. The Board remains committed to maintaining open communication with the community and encourages members to reach out with any questions, feedback, or ideas.

Treasurer's report

  • The Foundation has enough cash.
  • Apologies for the Treasurer's backlog.
  • The volunteer board is reaching its limits with the administrative tasks that they must process.

Numbers as of 2026-05-31

  • Donations: 38,632.86
  • Corporate Memberships: 111,301.49

The currency was not specified.

Invoices

This discussion took place before the official start of the meeting.

There was a question from Mateusz Konieczny (OSMF contractor and former board member), on whether any action is needed from his side for the payment of his invoice.

No action is needed by Mateusz. The Treasurer has a backlog in processing invoices and contractor payments from a combination of personal circumstances and spam filtering issues.

Next steps:

Summary of board's 2026 face-to-face meeting

Most board members met in person in Madrid, with the meeting facilitated by Allen Gunn and hosted by TomTom (Corporate Member).

Face-to-face board meetings are crucial because board members live in different countries and time zones, so these meetings allow us to work together for two full days in the same room. There were multiple half-hour sessions, where the board members were split into two teams, each discussing a different topic. A summary was then presented to the other group. The added value comes from board members sharing and reflecting on their thoughts, which is easier to do in person.

Topics discussed included

  • Starting the fundraising campaign
  • OSMF's move to the EU
  • AI policy launch
  • Hiring a second systems operator

Blog post at https://blog.openstreetmap.org/2026/06/19/2026-board-face-to-face-f2f-in-madrid-spain/

Please also see the Secretary's report above.

The meeting provided a very collaborative and safe environment.

(Dorothea's note: Craig Allan has provided meeting notes to the board and they will be published in early August here).

Catalan countries - Local Chapter application

On regional overlap

There is regional overlap with Spain, and with small parts of France and Italy. The Local Chapters of France and Italy were involved in the consultation process for this application and were positive. While Spain does not have an OSM Local Chapter yet, OSM Spain is aware of the application and is supportive.

Craig joined around 33 minutes after start.

There is a somewhat similar situation in Ireland, where the Local Chapters OSM UK and OSM Ireland manage overlapping matters in Northern Ireland and this has worked perfectly so far.

On LCCWG processing of the application

The application has already been processed by the Local Chapters and Communities Working Group (LCCWG), which has checked all relevant supportive documents and found them to be in order. The LCCWG has also done community consultations and found no unresolved opposition to the organisation becoming a Local Chapter.

The LCCWG had recommended approval of the application.

Motion to accept Associació Catalana de l'OpenStreetMap as a Local Chapter

Motion: Proposal to accept Associació Catalana de l'OpenStreetMap, seated in Barcelona, as a Local Chapter for the OSMF.

Proposed by Roland. Was not initially seconded.

Discussion

  • Roland in favour, as the application was cleared by the LCCWG.
  • Héctor wished to abstain, as he has known the applicants for many years.

Suggestions

  • Approve the application if respect is shown towards other Local Chapters and this is documented as a goal of the new chapter. The aim is to avoid conflicts.

Vote to accept Associació Catalana de l'OpenStreetMap as a Local Chapter

Motion: Accept Associació Catalana de l'OpenStreetMap as a local chapter for the Catalan regions and set up the contract between this organisation and the OpenStreetMap Foundation.

Did not pass on 2026-06-25 with,

  • 3 votes in favour: Craig Allan, Brazil Singh, Roland Olbricht.
  • 2 abstained: Héctor Ochoa Ortiz (abstained as he personally knows people from the association board for years), Maurizio Napolitano (abstained in order to read more and due to conflict of interest related to the Italian side. For Italy the overlap is for a very small area. The city of Alghero is recognized as a minority linguistic island and is protected by regional and national laws, which promote its teaching and use in documents and in city life.)
  • 1 against: Daniela Waltersdorfer
  • 1 did not vote: Laura Mugeha (absent)
Motion proposed by Roland Olbricht, seconded by Craig Allan.

Guest question on defining majority for votes

Question by Eugene Alvin Villar (guest and former board member) asking how the Board defines "majority". You need majority to have a quorum, and then majority of those who voted? Or present? Or of all? And does the majority count abstentions or only the yea/nays?

> If the number of votes in favour exceed the number of votes against, the motion carries.
> A majority of members present is required, including abstentions.

imagico (guest) pointed to Article 87 of the Association: "The Board may meet together for the dispatch of business, adjourn and otherwise regulate their meetings as they think fit, and determine the quorum necessary for the transaction of business. Unless otherwise determined, two shall be a quorum. Questions arising at any meeting shall be decided by a majority of votes. In case of an equality of votes the Chairman shall have a second or casting vote."

Suggestions

  • If the vote appears unlikely to pass, vote again at another time.
  • Postpone for the next board meeting, to allow Maurizio to review the supporting documents and make an informed decision.
  • Vote again at the next board meeting, when Laura is expected to be present.

The Chairperson's casting vote (see #87 above) traditionally would be cast in favor of the status quo, which means the matter would come up for another decision.

Decision seemed to be

Board members to look at the application within the next month, to have another vote during the July board meeting, before State of the Map 2026.

Apologies

Apologies were expressed to Associació Catalana de l'OpenStreetMap for the postponement of the decision for a month, and hopes that the circular will pass by the next board meeting.

Other points mentioned during discussion

The August 27th board meeting may be rescheduled by the Secretary, as board members will likely be travelling to the State of the Map conference.

Other comments by guests

Comment by imagico (guest) that to him this looks like a genuine grassroots initiative for a local organization - hence a good role model for other local communities to organize themselves.imagico added that he can't say anything on the formalities.

Any other business

Martin Raifer's contract

Topic raised by Héctor.

Martin Raifer's (iD maintainer) current contract is due to end next week. Sarah Hoffmann and Mikel Maron (both Personnel Committee volunteers and former board members) sent a proposal to the board the previous week about the new contract.

Action item

Héctor to create a circular for the board to vote. Post-meeting note: See Circular 2026/Res12.

Second sysadmin job description

Topic raised by Héctor.

Craig can circulate the job description for a second sysadmin to the board within one hour. A Personnel Committee meeting and an Operations meeting are scheduled for tomorrow.

25 June Communication Working Group meeting

Topic raised by Dani.

There is a Communication Working Group (CWG) meeting today at 17:00 UTC. Dani invited attendees to join.

Guest comments or questions

No guest comments or questions during this section.

Next meetings

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Mid-month board chat: 16 July 2026 at 12:00 UTC, unless rescheduled

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

Dates: See this Framagenda calendar (yellow dots).

Open board meeting: Thursday, 30 July 2026, at 12:00 UTC, unless rescheduled

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

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Meeting adjourned 48 minutes after start.

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