Engineering Working Group

The Engineering Working Group supports open source software development related to OpenStreetMap. It has existed in its current form since 2021. Like all working groups, the members are volunteers. The group is always 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.

Join us

We are looking for people with experience developing software or managing software development in the OSM software ecosystem. Please get in touch by contacting engineering@osmfoundation.org! When you reach out please include the following in your email:

• Your OpenStreetMap username
• Why you are interested in joining the EWG
• Your experience working with the OSM software ecosystem

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

Members of the EWG are listed below. Conflicts of interest, if any, can be found under each member's name. Many members simply have no relevant affiliations.

• Salim Baidoun
  • Employed by TomTom
• Andrew Hain
• Adam Hoyle (chairperson)
• Tobias Knerr
• Roland Olbricht (secretary)
  • Also currently treasurer of the Foundation
  • Employee at MENTZ GmbH (in the OSM wiki, a software supplier for public transit. All customers are public transit companies, no interest supplying software to the OSMF. Some products and services include using OSM data.
  • Author of the Overpass API.
• Ramya Ragupathy
• Emerson Rocha
• Mikel Maron
  • Product Lead at https://www.earthgenome.org/. We use OSM but not actively developing OSM related tools
  • Board Member at https://mapkibera.org/. They create and use OSM regularly but not active in engineering.
• Robert Koeze
• Héctor Ochoa Ortiz
  • Also deputy secretary of the Foundation. Current bio and conflicts of interest updated at the board bio page.
  • Currently doing a research stay at TomTom

Spending and eligible projects

Like other working groups, the EWG submits annual budget requests to the OSMF board.

As a rough long-term guidance, we aim for the following spending breakdown:

• 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
• 20% of funding to consumer-facing OSM software and new software

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

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

Meetings and minutes

The Engineering Working Group (EWG) is holding meetings every 14 days. 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.