OpenStreetMap Belgium at the MAP – Mercator Museum Opening

Communities België / Belgique / Belgien (Belgium)
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OpenStreetMap Belgium at the MAP – Mercator Museum Opening! Call for volunteers

The brand-new MAP – Mercator Museum in Sint-Niklaas is reopening soon, and OpenStreetMap Belgium will be part of the opening festivities!
The theme of the opening festivities will be ‘Iedereen cartograaf’. We will be there to show the public how everyone can be a cartographer with OpenStreetMap.

When will we be there

  • Saturday 13 December 2025, 14:00–17:00

  • Saturday 20 December 2025, 14:00–17:00

  • Saturday 27 December 2025, 14:00–17:00

  • Saturday 3 January 2026, 14:00–17:00

Where

  • MAP – Mercator Museum, Sint-Niklaas

What we are planning

We will host an interactive OpenStreetMap stand inside the museum:

  • A few laptops where visitors can try OSM mapping hands-on

  • A looping presentation introducing OpenStreetMap and our community projects

  • Friendly volunteers to guide visitors through their first edit

  • A short instruction script to make it easy to explain and assist

  • An OSM Belgium banner or materials to decorate the stand

We need your help!

We are looking for volunteers to:

  • Be present at one or more of the dates listed above

  • Help visitors make their first edits on the map

  • Share stories about OSM in Belgium and around the world

What we need

  • A few laptops (we will coordinate who can bring one)

  • Volunteers for each time slot (ideally 2–3 per afternoon)

More information? Want to participate? Having good ideas?

Send a direct message or reply

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I want to volunteer for one saturday.

I think that having a tablet to show you can contribute to osm on mobile devices is a good idea.

Maybe we can also use this book for smaller children. I have no idea what kind of audience we can expect.

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I will try to come a few times too. I have some old laptops and a tablet lying around that I can miss for a few weeks.

Also, my grandma’s former appartment is nearby - if needed, we can store some material there or have people sleep there.

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In the meantime, I proposed a Dutch translation of the comic. Please proofread it here: Add (Belgian) dutch translation by pietervdvn · Pull Request #14 · psanxiao/finaeosmapas · GitHub .

According to some random “magazine” printing service, having it printed in magazine quality would cost ~€2/piece. (The service is the first one I found online). More glossy prints (with a proper front) are around ~€3 or ~€4/piece (but I didn’t do proper research)

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I am available all days. I can bring two laptops and maybe more depending on the requirements (need for Belgian keyboard; need to play videos; need to connect a monitor or projector).

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We will have a stand on Saturday 3 January 2026 instead of Sunday 4 January 2026.

So we will be there

  • Saturday 13 December 2025, 14:00–17:00

  • Saturday 20 December 2025, 14:00–17:00

  • Saturday 27 December 2025, 14:00–17:00

  • Saturday 3 January 2026, 14:00–17:00

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I have corrected the date in the original post.

I’m sorry that my holiday in Antwerp is already over.

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I suggest to create a room for this in the OSM BE Matrix space. Closer to the date of the event, that will allow for easier coordination.

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As mentioned on Matrix, I am also available to participate a few days.

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OpenStreetMap participation has been published on the museum website:

https://www.museasintniklaas.be/activiteiten?page=1

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Good news: the MAP Mercator Museum in Sint-Niklaas has confirmed that we can use as much space for our stand as we need!
This means that we can make our OpenStreetMap presence even more visible and interactive.

We’re still looking for a few more enthusiastic volunteers to join us and help visitors discover how they can contribute to OpenStreetMap.

More information? Want to join? Having good ideas?

Send a direct message or reply