Engineering Working Group

After a period of inactivity, the Engineering Working Group has been re-established by board decision on 2021-07-30. The group is still in its infancy and is welcoming additional members!

What we do

The Engineering Working Group (EWG) is charged with

• Handling software development paid for by the OSMF
• Putting out calls for proposals on tasks of interest, and accepting proposals on other tasks
• Offering a platform for coordination of software development efforts across the OSM ecosystem
• Managing OSM’s participation in software mentorship programs

For handling paid development, "tasks" include development of new features, maintenance of code, documentation, and other tasks that improve the developer experience. We encourage applications from skilled individuals who aren’t professional developers, professional contractors or companies, as well as those who are. In our first round we will look for projects that don’t need much management and will apply the principles of the Hiring Framework.

We encourage standardization and shared efforts between projects by bringing together developers with similar interests. This work also includes responding to emails and directing people at other people or appropriate resources.

Funding

The EWG is working towards a first round of funding for work on OSM software. We’ve compiled a Project Funding Framework to guide our selection and funding process.

Join us

We are looking for people with experience with the OSM software ecosystem, developing software, or managing software development. Please get in touch by contacting engineering@osmfoundation.org!

Process for new members

Membership applications are discussed within EWG. If no members of EWG object within 1 week, a membership application is immediately accepted. If there are objections, the application is put to a vote among EWG members.

Who we are

• Salim Baidoun
• Andrew Hain
• Adam Hoyle
• Tobias Knerr
• Robert Koeze (chairperson)
• Roland Olbricht (secretary)
• Ramya Ragupathy
• Emerson Rocha

Prospective budget

Our first budget will outline further detail, and is subject to change after the Working Group forms and we have initial meetings.

• Estimated 50k initial budget, same scale as the trial run of microgrants in 2020.
• 50% of funding to core OSM software used to edit OSM or OSM-specific software run on the OpenStreetMap website
• 30% of funding to OSM quality assurance and analysis tools and OSM-specific software in common use (category name to be determined)
• 20% of funding to consumer-facing OSM software and new software

All code written must be open-source and available without charge.

We would like to budget for administrative assistance for meeting minutes, document management, and other administrative tasks and believe this is best handled through existing contracts the board has in place.

Meetings and minutes

The Engineering Working Group (EWG) is holding meetings every 14 days. The current schedule is on Wednesday 15:30 UTC. Meeting dates are published on the OpenStreetMap Calendar.

Meetings are open to the public by default and take place on this BBB instance.

See the /Minutes subpage for meeting minutes, including those of EWG's previous incarnations.