Category: Advocacy

On Saturday the 28th of April, OpenStreetMap Ireland will be holding an OGM for all who are interested in knowing about our ongoing process to set up a company, that will represent the collaborative mapping of Ireland through OpenStreetMap. The interim committee will keep the community up to date with our progress so far, in what should be finished in a few months. This means the meeting will predominantly be about legal and administrative matters. This is your chance to talk with many of the interim committee members who will be present, during the midpoint in our work and raise any matters you may have or are simply curious about. We hope this will be the second last meeting before we can formally announce the creation of the company. One question that has been raised is “Why create a company to represent OSM Ireland?”. The answer is that part of the work members have done is to lobby government bodies to open data and bring it into the sphere of the citizen, where it can be used to improve our lives. On another occasion, a member was offered a grant to continue our work. To be able to accept money, lobby effectively, or any related task, we need to have a legal entity behind us. Which will, in turn, boost our ability to spread the benefits of open source maps for and by the people and not solely in the hands of large corporations or government bodies.

We are aware most members have a greater interest in actual mapping, so we hope to resume normal services by the end of summertime. We talked about doing a little mapping towards the end of the upcoming meeting. Perhaps a short walk around the area to submit some updates to OpenStreetMap. Or using some new tools like Mapillary or StreetComplete, this will depend on interest and who shows up.

On March 24th from 10am to 3.00pm Open Street Map Ireland will be have its first AGM to set up a formal organisation to cement what has been a loose collective of like minded individuals into a legal structure.

OSM is a worldwide mapping initiative, which is fully open source, i.e. made by people for other people, that anybody can contribute to with a low barrier to entry. There are a variety of tools to get you started, where you can shape the map you use with the detail you require, instead of hoping a proprietary solution will fit your need. There has been OSM activity in Ireland for well over a decade, with townland boundaries, coastline, cemeteries and monuments being mapped in earnest. Often newly opened roads get mapped as soon as the tarmac dries, historical building, paths, and other information not always included in official spatial data. Some areas areas need more detail, so there is still plenty to do.

Irish mappers have also greatly assisted the Kingdom of Lesotho to map and train their citizens in mapping their country, which not only saves them high costs, but empowers the people to be help themselves and use the open information to improve their lives. Anybody with an interest in maps is welcome. Find out more on Facebook, Twitter or the OSM Ireland mailing list.

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