Annual Report of the Directors 2021

Prior to AGM.

General Description of the company’s activities and impact

OSMUK represents mappers in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Isles, and the interests of the map itself. The membership stands at 95, of whom 2 are corporate members, which is a small decrease from 2019-2020.

Summary of activities in 2020-2021

As part of the OSMF’s Local Chapters & Communities Working Group, we represented our members showing off what we do as a chapter. Using our Loomio forum site, we got an indication of the key points that our members wanted to be raised.

We liaised between the GB community and an organiser of organised mapping following some low quality edits of the map in an area of Wales by setting up a call between concerned parties.

Having moved web hosting providers in late 2020, we have been able to offer more to our members and community. We provisioned Land Registry polygons as a tiles layer to aid alignment of aerial imagery that is used by contributors to OSM, improving accuracy of map editing.

We’ve sought opportunities for OSM contributors following Facebook’s acquisition of Mapillary and establish a line of contact to and from our members.

Following an OSMF microgrant won in 2020, we produced a set of leaflets that can be sent out on request to people to promoting the use and contribution to OpenStreetMap in the UK.

We responded to the OFCOM plan of work for 2021, at request of our members, particularly in regards to the governance and licensing of the Postcode Address File (PAF). This dataset has substantial impact in our area, as it can affect our use of other datasets.

Each quarter of the year we arrange a project to focus on improving a particular subject area’s map data and encouraging members to work together and share information. The quarterly projects organised this year included Defibrillators, Green spaces, Buildings and Tourism. There is a measured uptick in activity tied to quarterly projects.

We have assisted companies and local authorities who wished to use OpenStreetMap in the UK and advertised 2 opportunities to the talent pool to help connect them with the community.

One of our directors has continued their excellent work promoting OSMUK and usage of OSM data by delivering presentations, interviews and participating in the #GeoMob podcast, the Code The City hackathons and Open Data café.

Consultation with stakeholders

We practise ‘radical openness’ by discussing OSMUK-specific decisions openly on the Loomio platform, and other activities on the Talk-GB mailing list. Monthly meeting minutes are published publicly on the osmuk.org website. On occasion, individuals have attended a monthly meeting as a guest to talk directly with the Directors.