State of the Map/Planning/Call for venues

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Timing

The following is an ambition we strive for. So far we have not achieved this aim so it is something we continue to work on.

The (international) State of the Map conference date and location(city) should be announced 18 months before it takes place. This is so as to give ample notification to the wider OpenStreetMap community who may want to run regional or local events.

Co-ordinating with other events

Regional and local events

Avoiding clashes with regional and local State of the Map events is crucial. This can be prevented by announcing the international State of the Map earlier.

The State of the Map working group is also willing to help coordinate events (e.g. if regional or local planning teams tell us about their proposed dates we can warn them about known clashes).

FOSS4G

Following previous clashes with FOSS4G we have come up with some ideas to help prevent this (working with FOSS4G's Jeff McKenna). Currently we follow option 1.

  • Option1 Send emails when potential FOSS4G & SOTM dates are being examined. Use the OSGeo Board email address, or direct to Jeff McKenna or Mark Illife (email addresses redacted from public display).
  • Option2 Have a reserved seat on each future SotM and FOSS4G local committee for representatives from each community.
  • Option3 Share organizing of SotM and FOSS4G, with a combined "SotM + FOSS4G" event. The local organizing committee would have members from both committees. This could in a number of ways including back-to-back events that share the same venue, a large combined event (as the only event that year) or a small combined event that is run in addition to solo SotM and FOSS4G events.

The bid process

The bid process has been improved to place greater emphasis on the key elements - venue and catering. A recommended template helps ensure we collect the right data in a consistent format.

Each year we copy the previous call for venues (for 2018 it is here) to the new year. The dates are updated and the text checked for any required changes.

Communication

An announcement that the call for venues is open is made through the key external communication channels (blog, twitter, email newsletter).

Previous blog posts:

Rollover

Rollover of bids (that is, deciding the location for the next two years of State of the Map based on a single year's call for venues) is not allowed. There needs to be a new call for venues each year to allow new teams to bid.