Request for clarification regarding mapping dance venues and events

Help and support
1

Hello everyone,

I am posting from a new forum account because my original OSM account is currently suspended pending review. I am not trying to evade moderation; I simply wanted to ask the community for guidance about the appropriate way to handle this type of data.

I am looking for guidance regarding a project I have been contributing to on OpenStreetMap since 2020.

The goal of the project was to build a geographic database of Latin dance activities in Europe (salsa, bachata, kizomba, etc.), mainly to help dancers discover places and events while travelling or planning holidays.

The map included:

  • dance schools,
  • clubs and social dance venues,
  • and also some festivals and recurring dance events.

This project was purely informational. There was never any commercial intent, affiliate system, ticket sales, or advertising partnership involved.

In June 2022, I even presented the project informally to several experienced OSM contributors during State of the Map France in Nantes, and at the time nobody raised concerns about the concept itself.

However, this week my account was automatically suspended for “suspicious activity”. I contacted the support team and explained that I fully respect OSM principles and that I am willing to modify or remove any data that does not comply with the guidelines.

I would genuinely appreciate clarification from the community regarding what is considered acceptable in this context.

More specifically:

  • Are permanent dance-related venues acceptable in OSM (dance schools, clubs, studios, etc.)?
  • Are recurring events acceptable if they are tied to a stable location?
  • Should temporary festivals and events be excluded entirely from OSM?
  • Is there a recommended alternative approach or sister project better suited for this type of dataset?

My intention is not to argue against the suspension, but to better understand the expected boundaries and contribute appropriately in the future.

If this project is better suited as an external application using OSM as a basemap rather than storing event data directly in OSM, I am open to that discussion.

Thank you very much for your time and guidance.

Yves

2

For info, I’m a member of OSM’s Data Working group (as well as being a moderator in this subforum). I am unaware of your original account (depending on how it got “suspended pending review” it may not have ever reached the DWG).

They’re presumably there all the time and, assuming that they have a permanent location and not “once a fortnight in a village hall” would definitely appropriate for OSM.

Again, if the venues are there all the time, this makes sense.

Those really aren’t appropriate for OSM. For those I’d consider something like uMap. You can overlay the locations of temporary events over an OSM map; you don’t need to store the temporary details in OSM.

6 Likes
3

There is the OpenEventDatabase project, mostly in french and just beginning but promising.

3 Likes
4

Thank you very much for your clarification and for taking the time to explain the distinction.

For your information, here is the directory of Latin dance venues in Europe that I have been maintaining since 2020:

https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/fr/map/bar-dansant-latino-soiree-salsa-bachata-en-europe_987641#4/44.500000/20.480000

I can confirm that the venues mapped there correspond to fixed locations (dance schools, clubs, bars, studios, etc.), not temporary events.

Regarding festivals and temporary dance events, uMap has indeed been the preferred solution since 2020, precisely because these events are not permanent geographic features.

For completeness, here is the suspended OSM account related to this discussion (502 Bad Gateway) : https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/fr/map/top-festival-latino-en-france-europe-salsa-bachata_571803#5/48.719961/2.197266

My intention is simply to better understand the expected boundaries and ensure that future contributions remain fully aligned with OSM guidelines.

Thank you again for the clarification.

1 Like
5

It’s not - that is a uMap link.

6

Thank you for the clarification.

You are absolutely right — the previous link was a uMap project, not the OpenStreetMap account itself.

Here is the OSM account concerned by the suspension: contact@latinamap.eu

The uMap link was only provided as contextual information to illustrate the type of geographic data I have been maintaining separately from OSM.

Thank you again for your time and explanations.

7

what was its user name?

8

Nom du propriétaire : LatinaMap-Eu

9

(for completeness, an account of that name** never “troubled the scorers” at the Data Working Group so it must have been suspended for some other reason)

** user accounts are case sensitive - if I change the capitalisation in my user name it does not exist.

10

Without the correct username, nobody can help you find out what the problem with your account is. The best way to proceed is to provide a link to your user pages. See the examples below.

No user with that username seems to exist on this community forum or on OpenStreetMap itself. These I expected:

This user, Latinamap-eu, exists only on uMap; note the lowercase m in map. No corresponding user seems to exist on either this community forum or on OpenStreetMap itself.

Edit:

Wild guess. Perhaps it has something todo with the migration of the France forum. So it might help if you also tell when you for the last time have used your original username on the community forum and on OpenStreetMap. See: users: France - OpenStreetMap Community Forum

11

First: It looks like we are talking with someone who is using LLM for each post? But that could be accounted for because of a langauge barrier, of course :slight_smile:

I tried to find the username with https://whosthat.osmz.ru/ with starting “latinamap” but there seems to be nothing.

My best guess is they added stuff to their umap Cartes de Latinamap-eu - Online map creator and got banned there somehow? In that case this unfortunately the wrong support-channel i guess.

And on topic, SomeoneElse basically said all.

Are permanent dance-related venues acceptable in OSM (dance schools, clubs, studios, etc.)?

Yes

Are recurring events acceptable if they are tied to a stable location?

Usally no, OSM is not suited for that. But you can use umap for stuff like this. (Like i think you are doing already :) )

Should temporary festivals and events be excluded entirely from OSM?

Usally yes.

Is there a recommended alternative approach or sister project better suited for this type of dataset?

umap. Add the dance studios and event venues, studios, clubs to osm and then use umap for the events and festivals themself.

12

I only use uMap to update the maps of dance venues.

Here are the steps to follow: uMap - Online map creator , then ‘Choose a provider: openstreetmap-Oauth-2’, then my username: ‘contact@latinamap.eu’ and my password.

Thank you for your advice.

Yves