We request that any separate labeling or highlighting of Western Sahara be removed from the map, and that the territory be represented visually as part of Morocco, using the same color scheme as the rest of the country. Please ensure that no “SADR,” “Disputed Territory,” or similar markers appear.
This request is based on current international practices and official statements. Notably, UN Security Council Resolution 2797 (2025) extended the mandate of MINURSO and referenced Morocco’s 2007 Autonomy Proposal as the basis for negotiations, while explicitly stating that any solution must be negotiated between the parties. The resolution does not recognize SADR as a sovereign state and underscores that sovereignty over Western Sahara remains unresolved.
In order to avoid misrepresentation and potential confusion, the map should reflect a neutral, simplified visualization. This adjustment is entirely cartographic and does not imply any position on the legal status of the territory under international law.
We appreciate your prompt action in updating the map accordingly.
With regard to the underlying OSM data, the answers to a previous similar question still apply. If there are any parts of that that you need help with, please ask.
With regard to maps made with OSM data, you’ll need to raise that with the author(s) of whatever map you are looking at. All maps (even those on the osm.org website) are separate projects and have their own criteria for what they show. I would add that the data that OSM has in the area is extremely rich, and in keeping with https://osmfoundation.org/w/images/d/d8/DisputedTerritoriesInformation.pdf there is enough data for you to create a map showing your preferred boundaries.
9 Likes
Mammi71
(One feature, Six mappers and still More ways to map it)
3
OpenStreetMap is a database. There are many, many maps based on our data. We do not have a colour scheme for countries in our database.
If you are referring to our “standard map” on openstreetmap.org: the other yellowish colour is: natural=sand ,
formerly natural=desert
(and sometimes misused).
And: You have already answered your own question:
There has been no outcome to the negotiations so far. SomeoneElse has already pointed out our position on disputed territories.
Our data is also correct according to the UN resolution.
As we know last month UN aready pass the request about Morocco and Sahara border issue;
But we still find the Map didn’t update, it is very important to us, because our system integrate openstreet map. If we still have this border, it will block us to use our system;
We trust openstreet map, but we dont want to invole any political mistake, please update the map and remove the border.
thanks
Mammi71
(One feature, Six mappers and still More ways to map it)
5
what is “your system”?
who or what is “it”?
Questions:
Have negotiations already taken place between the parties?
Did these negotiations lead to a positive outcome and did the parties reach a mutual agreement? Were corresponding agreements signed?
Has anything changed in the situation over the last four weeks?
The UN has merely recommended that Morocco’s autonomy plan be taken as a basis for negotiations (and extended the mandate for the UN mission MINURSO for another year). Nothing more!
OSM is a geospatial database, not a map. If you need a specific representation of borders, you can create your own rendering that shows the state that you need.
See e.g. About Western Morroco borders - #2 by SomeoneElse
The initial request was to remove Western Sahara from the map. Defining this region as “Western Sahara”.
So you have to choose: is it the name of the region or is it not.
Western Sahara is basically a topographical, geographical, not a political name: the Western part of this desert. Dot.
Colors: may you like it or not, a sandy desert will be seen by some as a sandy surface, by others as a desert. No UN resolution will make rain or remove the sand, so in the foreseeable future it will remain a sandy desert. Dot.
Note: to work with a Moroccan official body I had to create such a map. And OpenStreetMap France offered such tiles for the Moroccan community some times ago.
So the database was fine as it was and is fine as it is. Final dot.
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