OpenStreetMap Foundation (OSMF) members will vote to elect a new board at the Annual General Meeting in September 2025.
The board candidates’ manifestos and answers to the official questions by @ZeLonewolf, based on questions by the community, are now published on the OSM wiki:
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Foundation/AGM2025/Election_to_Board/Answers_and_manifestos
The page also includes a table linking to individual answers and some statistics.
The proposed community discussion period is:
2025-08-16 to 2025-09-06 16:00 UTC, when voting for the election will open.
If you are automatically translating this message via community.osm.org, the questions and links to the answers are below.
1. Motivation and Objectives
Why do you want to join the OSMF Board, and what do you hope to accomplish as a board member over the next two years?
2. Conflict of Interest Management
Do you currently have any conflicts of interest that might affect your role on the Board? If so, what are they and how would you manage them? Can you share examples of how you have handled conflicts of interest in the past?
3. Transparency and Accountability
How would you ensure that the Board’s decisions and actions are transparent and accountable to the OSM community?
4. Teamwork
OSMF board members bring diverse skills, experiences, personalities, and cultural backgrounds. How can the board foster a productive, respectful, and collaborative working environment? What kind of onboarding, training, or knowledge transfer should current and departing board members provide to help new board members work effectively?
5. Artificial Intelligence
How do you see AI tools like chat bots, large language models, and computer vision fitting into the OpenStreetMap community? Should the board itself and/or its working groups use AI tools, and if so, how would you ensure they are used ethically and responsibly? Lastly, did you use AI assistance to craft your response to the candidate questions?
6. Access to Imagery
Is it the role of the OSMF to ensure that mappers continue to have reliable access to high‑quality overhead imagery to serve mappers globally? If yes, what strategies would you prioritize to maintain or expand access, especially in regions with limited alternatives?
7. Software Governance
Please comment generally on the OSMF’s role in managing, maintaining, and/or providing governance for the “core” software in the project. Has the Software Dispute Resolution Panel been effective?
8. Map Styles on OpenStreetMap.org
Who should make the decision about which map styles should be available, or shown as the default, on openstreetmap.org?
9. State of the Map Conferences
State of the Map conferences can spark controversy over speakers, sponsors, or the political and/or safety climate of the chosen host country. What principles should guide the selection of future SotM locations and how should the OSMF respond to protests or disruptions during the event?
10. Intellectual Property
What steps, if any, should the OSMF take to protect OpenStreetMap’s intellectual property?
11. OSMF Enthusiasm
In this election cycle, only a small number of candidates stood for election, and a smaller than usual number of community questions were submitted for the candidates. What do you think is the reason for this low level of interest, and what would you do, if anything, to promote interest in quality candidates running for the OSMF board?
All board candidates’ manifestos are here.
Additional resources
For more information regarding the 2025 board election and the 19th Annual General Meeting please see the following links:
