State of the Map 2024: Join us in Nairobi and online on 6-8 September 2024!

Dear all,

Get ready to meet and connect with old and new mappy friends from the global OpenStreetMap community again!

The State of the Map Organising Committee is thrilled to officially announce that the global conference of the OpenStreetMap community, State of the Map (SotM), will be making its way to Nairobi, Kenya from September 6th-8th 2024! This landmark event will bring together passionate mappers, data enthusiasts, technologists, and community members from all corners of the globe to celebrate the spirit of collaboration and open mapping.

Following the good feedback for State of the Map 2022 Firenze, the upcoming State of the Map 2024 will once again be held in a hybrid format. Building on the valuable lessons and experiences from the previous events, the SotM Organising Committee is committed to making this edition even more accessible to everyone who wishes to partake in this grand celebration of open mapping, sharing passionate voices with the entire community.

Learn more about the SotM 2024 announcement on the OpenStreetMap blog: Announcing State of the Map 2024: Join us in Nairobi and online on 6-8 September 2024! | OpenStreetMap Blog

More details about the organization will be soon communicated.

Federica Gaspari on behalf of the SotM Organising Committee

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I’m an out, queer trans woman. I presume this event won’t be safe for people like me?

It’s illegal to be gay in Nairobi, and parliamentarians are proposing even stricter, oppressive laws¹. Trans people are often lumped into the same group. The last SotM CoC² said: “[we are] dedicated to providing a harassment-free conference experience for everyone, regardless of … gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, …. We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form”. This CoC wouldn’t be possible in 2024, right?

I presume the advice from the SotM WG is that this event cannot for LGBTQ people, right?

Oh, doesn’t this go against the OSMF/SotMWG’s safety policy?³

¹ Insight: Kenya could follow Uganda as East African nations wage war on LGBT rights | Reuters
LGBT rights in Africa: Will Kenya be the latest to pass anti-gay law? - BBC News
² Code of conduct - State of the Map 2022
³ StateoftheMap Organizing Committee/StateoftheMap safety policy - OpenStreetMap Foundation

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