Daniela Waltersdorfer J.

Who am I?

Hello, my name is Daniela Waltersdorfer, and a lot of times go by Dani. I am from Lima, Peru and after some moves, my family and I ended in the U.S. Fast-forward to now, after a few moves on my own, and now I find myself as a resident of the wonderful District of Columbia. I’ve had the pleasure and joy of serving in the OSMUS Board for the 2-3ish years--very special and difficult years.
As a professional I work in the Transportation Industry, where I help many transportation agencies with their transit, logistics, supply-chain, and asset management needs. I love cities and advocate for proper accessibility and mobility for people and goods. In the past, I’ve led Maptime Boston and Maptime Miami, where I (along with my awesome co-leads) provided GIS and mapping education to the local communities, led mapathons, and hosted a space for everything map-related in our urban areas. In 2019 I joined in on the OSM US Code of Conduct Committee, developed to lead efforts to foster a diverse and inclusive OSM US community, and in 2021 the first ever and this first ever OSMU US Code of Conduct was published (https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Foundation/Local_Chapters/United_States/Code_of_Conduct_Committee/OSM_US_Code_of_Conduct#OpenStreetMap_US_Code_of_Conduct).
While at the OSM US, I was the representative attending the OSMF Meetings.

My experience in the OSM US Board has been an amazing one, and I'm truly thankful to have represented and listened to the OSM US Community.

Why am I running?

OpenStreenMap US is an organization that means a lot to me. It has welcomed me with open arms, introduced me to some of my best friends, and has provided me a space where I feel safe asking questions.
This was OSM US, but there's a whole global community, the OpenStreetMap Foundation! Now this, one should be as welcoming as ever, always eager to connect and learn from the various communities and chapters it represents. I want to run to promote this, to promote and achieve a sense of welcoming and connectedness amongst all the chapters and groups that make the global OSMF be what it is and should be.
To begin with, I think representation matters, and as such the Board representing the overall OSMF should try to represent its diverse community as much as possible. Granted, I am a latino woman from living in the US, I may not represent that many, but I can stand and support other women and spanish-speaking mappers. I can be your liaison for when you need to reach out to the Foundation. I will try as much to help you and make you feel welcomed and listened. I want this space to make everyone feel safe.
A place that is not intimidating or that makes others feel less because "they're not a programmer", or "they're not a man", "or they're not European." We're working towards making an open map of the world, so let's welcome the world. Yes, there is a key difference between the OpenStreetMap Project and the OpenStreetMap Foundation, the OSMF is there to support the project and the various communities working towards mapping the world. The OSMF has the best task, bringing people together. Thus, we have to be a safe and inclusive community.
If you've read through the answers to the questions provided (which by the way, thank you all--- great questions), you may have learned that I am not a software developer or programmer. And most if not all of my involvement with OSM is volunteer work. I trust this project and am passionate about it. I'm passionate about teaching others about OSM, encouraging people to add to the map, and promoting the power of Open Source Data and Initiatives. Something I also listed quite a bit in my answers is that we have to understand that "one size does not fit all" or that everything cannot be "black or white". We, as a the people representing the Foundation, have to understand our diverse community, which includes the differences in how chapters (and potential chapters) run, what they need from us, and how we can aid them to promote their growth and well-being.

I have never served in such a big role, but I'm eager to 1.) listen to you; 2.) learn from you; 3.) work together. The Board members are not leading the Foundation, they are those representing you.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and considering me to represent you.
Please feel free to reach out should you have any questions. Si tienes preguntas en español, o quisieras este resumen (mi manifesto) en español, por favor contactame.
Twitter: @DWaltersdorfer

Arnalie Vicario

Vision Statement: I envision Openstreetmap as the best map of the world as well as the best and inclusive space for all. I am mappy to challenge, support and be part of the change. ❤️‍🔥🗺 ✊

Kumusta, my name is Arnalie, a community engager from the Philippines (half of the year based in the US). My answers to some of the Official Set of Questions are also discussed and linked here in my manifesto.

You can read more about me, my background and OSM journey in my OSM Profile.

Short bio: I have been mapping in Openstreetmap since 2016, the same year I joined and became part of the OSM community in the Philippines. Participating at State of the Map 2018 exposed me to the global OSM community, sparked my passion in building inclusive communities, and helped build my confidence in community discussions and shared spaces in OSM. You can listen more about my views about community in OpenStreeMap and humanitarian open mapping in the Geomob Podcast Interview - Arnalie Vicario: Building inclusive spaces in OSM.

My main driver in running for OSMF Board: I am committed to represent and make sure voices and realities of people like me - women and people from historically oppressed & marginalized communities - have a say, a vote and a seat at the table.

What I hope to achieve if I become a Board member:
[My answer to Question #3)

1) Online communications and safety - supporting the safety and modernization of OSM communication in the OSM Community Forum by supporting the implementation of Etiquette Guidelines and leading by example with allies (more of my views on this in the last question Question #13: Conflict, Etiquette and Etiquette Guidelines )

2) Improving internal processes (i.e Local Chapters application, OSMF WG membership) - growing and diversifying OSMF’s established local chapters and Working Groups through more pro-active community engagement and addressing barriers to participation (more of my views on this in Question #10: OSMF ... and Local communities)

3) Respect to local communities/contributors and their data in mapping by deferring to local communities (in mapping, tagging, etc) (more of my views on this in Question #8: OSMF ... and Tagging)

4) Learning to make informed decisions on aspects which are not my strengths e.g.. Fundraising and technical direction (more of my views on this in Question #7 and #12)

Recognizing that change is a slow process, I believe achieving the above mentioned will help ensure visibility of the realities of contributors belonging to similar communities as mine.

Włodzimierz Bartczak

Hello! My name is Włodzimierz Bartczak and I am an OpenStreetMap addict. Professionally, I have been involved in trade (retail industry) for more than 30 years. I am currently coordinating the development of one of the retail chains in Poland. In my daily work I often use GIS analytical tools. I divide my free time between mapping (Cristoffs) and being active in the Polish OpenStreetMap community. Since 2019, I have been a member of the board of the OpenStreetMap Poland Association (OSMP).

I am not a long-term project participant, but as you can see I am a very active member of the community. I am guided in my work by the following principles:

Think globally, act locally
A good plan is half the battle
Only by knowing where I am going to I know how far I have already come
I believe in simplicity
I know that some things will never be simple
No one is smarter than a group of people who want to achieve a common goal
There is no point seven.
Nobody likes change.
Change is inevitable.
Talk is cheap

I am running for the board because, I think I can secure the future of a project that my friends and I have put a lot of work into. You can read more in mydiary.

My goals, maybe a little too ambitious, but you have to have the bar set high.

Reactivation of Strategic Working Group (SWG)

For me, this is the top priority. Regardless of the outcome of the elections, I will work to reactivate this working group. To continue work on the Strategic Plan Outline and turn it into a full-fledged strategic plan for the coming years. I would like to involve all stakeholders with a special focus on the Local Chapters. The document thus developed will form the basis for further action for the Board and the Working Groups for the coming years. Professionally, I co-create such projects, so it will not be a problem for me to organize it.

Supporting Local Chapters and Communities

OSM's greatest resource is the people who make it up. On this we all agree. By supporting local communities we have a unique opportunity to benefit from cultural AND environmental diversity. In this regard, I would like to act according to the principle: "Thinking globally, acting locally".

The easiest way to tap this huge potential is to support members of local communities in the work of individual working groups. I am thinking here primarily of the Data Working Group and the License Working Group.
I would like to propose the resumption of a mini-grant program in a new format, which would be limited to activities in specific areas and their implementation would be associated with measurable results in a specific time frame. Targeted to both individual editors and Local Chapters (LCs). Preliminarily selected areas are:
- promotion of the OpenStreetMap project in public space.
- education on editing and working with OpenStreetMap data.
- cross-border projects requiring cooperation of individual Local Chapters (LC).
- creation of software or new functionalities of existing ones, supporting infrastructure or promoting OpenStreetMap.
Development of a technology support program for LCs
Supporting LC data acquisition processes for integration with OpenStreetMap
Best of the Best - a program for information exchange and flow of good practices between individual LCs
Improved profile tab - Currently we are not utilizing the potential of our user account, I'd like to propose expanding its functionality so that data currently available on third-party sites is integrated into our profile including membership in a specific community. Of course, such a change will require tremendous forethought, testing and will take a lot of time, but the benefits that follow will be worth the effort (An example of such a solution is this proposal from Playzinho [1])

Takeover protection

For me, supporting local communities and increasing the involvement of individual editors not associated with organizations that may pose a threat is the best protection against a takeover. Unfortunately, it is not enough. The key to guarding against takeover is transparency and clear procedures and rules for working with individual institutions. We should actively cooperate with all project stakeholders while at the same time trying to enforce any violations of the rules of use and the license itself.

Among the actions I would like to take in this regard are:

Collaborating with local communities and increasing the membership of the DWG so that it can operate more efficiently.
Preparing the requirements for an integrated system for receiving reports from institutions using OpenStreetMap data, including reports of violations of the ODbL license and lack of attribution, and then starting to implement it.
Analyzing the need to hire a specialist to support us in ODbL enforcement.
Support Communication Working Group's efforts to build a positive image of OSM and OSMF and our participation in the creation of open data.

Ariel Kadouri

Hello, I'm Ariel Kadouri and I would like you to vote for my OSMF board candidacy so that:

I can work towards increasing OSM's visibility
Coordinate board support for the data model evolution
Creating a space or process for OSM mapping and data consumer conversations.

Along with the duties of the board, these initiatives are important for the project to coordinate and move forward.

I also believe it is important to keep working towards keeping OSM an accessible and welcoming place, this includes supporting the etiquette and moderation guidelines, the software resolution group, and listening to the community in their concerns.

Please read the answers to the official questions to understand how I currently feel about the issues in our community. If I left something out, feel free to reach out.

Victor N.Sunday

Candidate's membership makes him not eligible for this election. Announcement on osmf-talk - the mailing list for OSMF members. Click "Expand" on the right to read the manifesto.

My focus would be to drive:

1. Strategic OSM Membership drive and Community growth and expansion in Africa through regional and country decentralization campaign
2. Local Community Chapter spread and engagement through non-OSM region mobilization campaign and engagement
3. OSM GIScience-OSM research cluster campaign among higher institutions

Christian Shadrack

I'm Christian Shadrack, my osm username is "christian shadrack". I am co-founder of the OSM DRC association and a very committed and current OSM contributor. I have been working with the Joint Geographic Information System (JGIS) of MONUC (Mission of the United Nations in the Democratic Republic of Congo), with UNOCHA – Cote d’Ivoire (United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Cote d’Ivoire), I have been collaborating with CartONG France in an important project named “Data collaborative in DRC regarding the Health sector”, with action in building a final dataset regarding health facilities, Health Zone and Health Area in DRC, I’m collaborating with IFRC/ DRC Country office for the data readiness for epidemic and pandemic preparedness (CP3) and I’m a HOT voting member and an active OpenStreetmap contributor in my country and I’m participating in the popularization of the “opens source tools” and “the digital mapping with openstreetmap”.

For OSM DRC, I was the one who set up and published the OSM newsletter, a monthly publication that promotes the DRCongolese contributors through their daily contributions.

I created the challenge "OSM", it is a contribution to my project of "geolocalization of schools, colleges and universities in the city of Kinshasa" and then integrate them into the OSM platform.

Currently I am promoting the use of data collection tools and especially digital mapping with the group of data managers and the network of volunteers of the Red Cross DRC.

https://twitter.com/crrdc1/status/1563413657706381313?t=I-LTvLF9Dl7ET5AxclaMMg&s=09

https://www.facebook.com/129836580813343/posts/pfbid0EPpGveZUDZb6x52QoUYUpevyT6eVDXcyVBUCa8VjYaKQvCSXuHpNm33XnAmHMwRLl/?sfnsn=mo

twitter : @pchshr

Sarah Hoffmann

You find information about me and my views on specific OSM issues in the answers to the board candidate questions. I'd like to use the manifest to give a broader view on where I think the OSMF should be going in the next years.

OSM has turned 18 this year and it's time that it comes of age. That doesn't mean we have to become all serious or turn into a multi-million dollar organisation with dozens of employees. We are first and foremost a community of hobbyists building a map. I see no reason why this has to change. But we have take on the responsibility that comes with being an important player in the geospatial data world. That means on one hand being a reliable partner with a solid technical infrastructure and trustworthy data. On the other hand it means providing a point of contact and being able to participate actively and with self-confidence in corporate and political discussions. If we don't do this ourselves, others will step into the void. It is unlikely that they then always act in the interest of the community.

So that is where I see the role OSMF and the board: be the professional face of the OSM, so that the community can be what they choose to be. The board has done a lot of work in the right direction in the previous year and I'd like to help continuing this work. There is seemingly mundane work like solid financial planing and getting Brexit issues out of the way. We could do with a more coherent strategy for our communication with the outside world for which we need s strategy. But we also need to talk about the role of the community. If we want to keep our independence, we need more people to take on responsibility in managing our own affairs.

Logan McGovern

I am of the opinion that my positions have been made pretty clear in the answers to the questions. I am running for a seat because OSMF has lead to significant self-growth. This is not limited to my career but extends to my private life too. I merely want to demonstrate my appreciation by donating a portion of my time working towards the health of the project. I want to see it continue flourishing far into the future. Generally, I disfavor centralization and will be looking to empower working groups and local chapters. I am going to put much of my energy towards the internationalization of instructional materials in various languages for the project. I support the constructive collaboration between all contributors to the project and am looking to implement mechanisms to facilitate productive interactions.

Arun Ganesh

14 years ago while tracing one of the first roads in India on OSM, the thought in my head was "this is a crazy idea". Luckily for me, a chance encounter with some travelling OSM believers convinced me that if we had enough crazy people, this crazy idea would lead to something truly magical that we cannot imagine.

14 years later, the data has grown so significantly that one the largest ride hailing service and EV scooter manufacturer in India have switched to using OSM for navigation. This to me is quite crazy because I know first hand of the data coverage and quality issues that can exist and we don't have that strong of a local community for our population to curate and maintain OSM data for a navigation use case.

This is not an isolated case and we are going to see more of this in the developing world. Projects like OSM are starting to show its incredible value in enabling indigenous businesses and creating local jobs. The network effects of this and the impact it can have on the project and existing communities cannot be overstated. Are we looking at a future where majority OSMF members are from Asia and Africa? (Fun fact: These two continents account for 3 of every 4 people in the world).

If as a community we are committed to our plan of increased diversity and inclusion, such a prospect is inevitable and we are looking at a significant cultural transformation of the OSM project over the coming years.

As a consistently active volunteer mapper combined with a brief experience of building the earliest organized mapping team, my background educated as both an engineer and UX designer from India, growing up in the Middle East and currently living in the US has given me a breadth of perspective of geographies and culture. It is this perspective that I believe would add value to the board in its decision making to support a diverse community like OSM.

While I have no prior experience in such a position or even a remote idea on what it might involve, what I did know was my gut telling me to step up after all these years for a crazy idea that has enabled so many things in my life. My greatest desire is to share the magic and craziness of OSM to bring more of the world together using this beautiful tool of humanity. And in that simple act lies the solution to so many of the crises facing our future.

What would be a concrete step in that direction to bring people together? Let me toss up a radical proposal: Hide the international borders on the default OSM map tiles. While it may seem like a ridiculous suggestion to many in Europe and North America, it is only slightly less radical than drawing borders on the map.

If you feel comfortable entertaining my proposal, chances are my perspectives might be valuable to the future of OSM.

Mateusz Konieczny

I think that OpenStreetMap is one of the great successes. I want more similar projects and I want OpenStreetMap to continue and grow.

As with any real project basically, anything can be improved, many things are working poorly and there are many things worth improving. While some things are going badly and are posing a high risk. And "how OSM data can and will be used for evil purposes" is an interesting topic in itself.

But overall I consider OpenStreetMap to be an enormous success. Something giving power to people and small organizations, data that used to be available only to well functioning governments and companies specializing in their creation are now available to all. Using high-quality road dataset does not require spending billions.

I see this access to open data to everyone as the greatest part of OpenStreetMap. It can be very useful in scientific research, enabling hobby projects and small companies to use map data that as a commercial service would require multibillion contracts. Yes, it also allows massive companies to use this dataset and enable major savings. And that is also fine, some of them even usefully contributed.

I would want OpenStreetMap to be created primarily by mappers interested in it, with OSMF controlled by mappers. And ones participating as a hobby or because they need it for some project. Not ones that are mapping as a minimum wage job or blindly following instructions.

I do not want to have OSMF turning into Wikimedia Foundation - moloch that claims that they need money immediately otherwise Wikipedia will fail, collects money and use significant funds on things unrelated to Wikipedia. Or Wikimedia. While keeping what happens with money secret and unclear. Wikipedia editors, Wikimedia Commons contributors and participants of other projects have no control over the organization that is using their work to collect donations and spend and no one knows what.

I also do not want OSMF to be powerless and completely and fully overtaken at the first opportunity.

I would be happiest to be not elected because four more qualified candidates won. I hope that I will not put myself high on my own ballot after familiarizing myself with other candidates.

And why I nominated myself despite not thinking that I am the most qualified person ever? The election mechanism is much better for this election than for a typical one. Rank voting is strongly reducing "wasted" votes, so even if someone expects to be better than just some candidates it still makes sense to be part of the election.

Disclaimer for "controlled by mappers": yes I would be unhappy if OSM would be controlled by people who never ever mapped anything in OpenStreetMap. But I do not believe at all that someone who edited 2 000 000 objects is 400 times more qualified to be a board member than someone who edited 5000 objects.

If anything is unclear in what I posted - feel free to send me a private message

For the ending: hopefully work on OpenStreetMap will continue for a long time and all of us can help it to grow!

Craig Allan

	IRL: Craig Allan OSM: cRaIgalLAn OSM Community: cRaIgalLAn OSM Wiki: CRaIgalLAn Mastodon: craigAllan	OSM Logo

Why vote for me?

I'm trained as an Urban and Regional Planner so I'm a mappy kind of person. I'm very keen on geography and love cartography as an art form, and working on OSM makes me very happy, so I'd like to pay back by contributing a lot of my varied skills. I discovered OSM by chance in 2010, and I loved it. I've been mapping on OSM for 12 years now - mostly in Africa which is where I live. You can look up my mapping activity on Pascal Neis's site - Pascal classifies me as a "Heavy Mapper (Highly Active)". As a Board member I will contribute labour and my skills to make things happen:

What are those skills?

I was a research manager in local government for decades, but ended up as an internal consultant to the City Manager (CEO) working on strategy, budgets, projects, risk, performance monitoring, audit, HR, procurement and so on. Those are all useful management skills because OSMF needs to run well, efficiently and accountably.
I organised, chaired, secretaried and sat in formal meetings a thousand times. That's a useful organisational skill because OSMF runs on meetings.
I ran conflict resolution sessions and chaired a number of disciplinary hearings. This might come in useful in OSMF, since someone asked about it in a community-submitted question.
I ran a demographic research and GIS unit using ESRI products and I also use QGIS - so I can talk GIS. That's useful because OSM data users are mostly GIS people.
I have fair to middling self-taught IT skills. I have coded mostly database and data analysis apps and I have set up mail, web, DNS and DB servers. I've done a few full-stack website developments. The end result of all that is that I can talk Tech. That's useful, because OSM is heavily tech based.
I have decent media skills. I can write content of many types and do layout and design for print or online media. That's useful in an organisation that should be communicating a lot more than it does.
I was involved in politics, a lot. That was about my passion for giving all people a voice in their government. I invented the male-female equity tool for parliamentary reps of the African National Congress. I care about empowering minorities of all genders, colours, abilities and kinds. That's useful because OSM is about including everybody equally and the Board is about representing members and giving members a voice in their organisation.
I was involved in government, a lot. I can negotiate patiently and skillfully with intractable bureaucrats because I was one. (I know the secret handshake) That is useful if we need to talk to governments or multi-lateral organisations.
I'm not a secret agent of a commercial GIS company or an evil mapping NGO. I'm just me. A basic nice guy. I'm not trying to take OSMF over for my own purposes or anybody else's purposes. I promise to work hard and loyally for the good of OSM generally and OSMF specifically.
I have time. I can and will devote a lot of that time to working on OSMF Board admin and projects. And I won't have conflicts of interest. That's useful, well, because it is.

If you need more and want to answer the question "Who are you?" you can jump to my standard Bio on OSM which is a bit more personal and less business oriented.

But wait...there's more.

You can read a lot more in all my answers to the many questions to find out if I can think and how I do think .

Then, when you've done all that reading, please vote for me. Thanks.

OSM Foundation's board election 2022: official questions

All board candidates' manifestos

2022 OpenStreetMap Foundation's: Board election - Voting information and instructions - Annual General Meeting

Foundation/AGM2022/Election to Board/Answers and manifestos/Manifestos

Daniela Waltersdorfer J.

Who am I?

Why am I running?

Arnalie Vicario

Włodzimierz Bartczak

Reactivation of Strategic Working Group (SWG)

Supporting Local Chapters and Communities

Takeover protection

Ariel Kadouri

Victor N.Sunday

Christian Shadrack

Sarah Hoffmann

Logan McGovern

Arun Ganesh

Mateusz Konieczny

Craig Allan

Why vote for me?

What are those skills?

But wait...there's more.

Navigation menu

Foundation/AGM2022/Election to Board/Answers and manifestos/Manifestos

Daniela Waltersdorfer J.

Who am I?

Why am I running?

Arnalie Vicario

Włodzimierz Bartczak

Reactivation of Strategic Working Group (SWG)

Supporting Local Chapters and Communities

Takeover protection

Ariel Kadouri

Victor N.Sunday

Christian Shadrack

Sarah Hoffmann

Logan McGovern

Arun Ganesh

Mateusz Konieczny

Craig Allan

Why vote for me?

What are those skills?

But wait...there's more.

Navigation menu

Search