You’ve found the OpenStreetMap US Updates thread for 2026, where the OSM US team regularly posts about upcoming events (including State of the Map US), board elections, new blog posts, program and tech updates, and other goings ons. Feel free to reply to posts with feedback or questions!
Happy Mapping!
The OSM US team
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January Updates:
It’s time for OSM US Board elections and there are two spots to fill in 2026! Here’s a brief overview of the timeline, but please refer to this blog post and this wiki page for additional information about nominations, eligibility, voting, and more.
- January 26: Nominations open
- February 8: Nominations close (11:59pm EST)
- February 23: Voting opens to OSM US members
- March 1: Voting closes
- March 2: 2026-2027 Board announced
Last July, OSM US shared that funding had run out for two Charter Projects: MapRoulette and OSMCha. We recently announced they have both since transitioned to Programs fully under the OSM US umbrella. Learn more about what this means in our recent blog post.
Upcoming OSM US Working Group meetings
You can sign up for any OSM US working group using the same form. All attendees will be added to a Google Calendar invitation before the next meeting date. Times given in Eastern Standard Time.
- January 26 at 4:00pm: Trails Working Group
- February 10 at 12:00pm: Imagery Working Group
- February 17 at 3:00pm: Pedestrian Working Group
Mapping USA 2026 (January 30-31, online)
- Mapping USA is next weekend! You can now view the program on our website, and don’t forget to register if you haven’t already. Registration is free, with a suggested $10 donation if you are not a member of OSM US.
- There’s also special MUSA 2026 merch up on the OSM US Swag Shop
State of the Map US (June 11-13, Madison, WI)
- Early bird tickets are available now through January 31, with discounts for nonprofit staff, students, and educators.
- If you need financial assistance to attend SOTMUS 2026, consider applying for a Fellowship. This is different from previous years’ scholarships, so be sure to read our blog post before sending in an application.
- The Call for Proposals is open now through February 16. Talks (at multiple lengths), workshops, panels, and posters are just a few of the available session types.
February Updates:
It’s time to vote for the 2026-2027 OpenStreetMap US Board of Directors! If you’re an individual member of OSM US, your ballot should be in your email inbox. Learn more about this year’s candidates by watching the recorded town hall (also sent to your email), and reading their position statements.
- February 23: Voting opens to OSM US members
- March 1: Voting closes at 11:59 EST
- March 2: 2026-2027 Board announced
Here are the upcoming OSM US Working Group meetings:
All times are in Eastern Daylight Time. Sign up here.
- March 9 at 2:00pm: Maintainers Working Group
- March 10 at 4:00pm: Government Working Group
- March 17 at 3:00pm: Pedestrian Working Group
- March 19 at 3:00pm: Education Working Group (new time!)
Mappy Hour: OpenHistoricalMap in North America (March 4, online)
- OpenStreetMap US hosts occasional free virtual meetups for the OSM community, featuring different speakers and topics in the open mapping world. Our first Mappy Hour of 2026 is with the OpenHistoricalMap team!
- This Mappy Hour is in support of OHM’s current fundraising campaign. They’ll cover recent updates to the platform, a mapper show and tell, and more.
- Save your spot here!
State of the Map US (June 11-13, Madison, WI)
- Tickets are currently available at standard pricing until late bird upcharges kick in after May 1st.
- There’s a special rate available for attendees staying at the Madison Concourse Hotel (the conference venue) until May 22. Book a room here.
Mapping USA 2026 (January 30-31, online)
- One last Mapping USA 2026 note - all available session recordings can now be found in a playlist on the OSM US Youtube Channel
March Updates
The votes are in! OSM US is excited to welcome Quincy Morgan to our Board of Directors along with Harrison Devine (re-elected this term), Kiri Carini, Jazzy Smith, and Matt Whilden.
There’s a new blog post on our website! Learn all about the Pedestrian Working Group Sidewalk Mapping Schema version 1.0.
Jake’s Tech Corner
Local Chapters & Communities Congress (March 28, online)
- This free event brings together representatives from official chapters of the OpenStreetMap Foundation and members of informal mapping groups to share knowledge and learn from each other. Register here.
State of the Map US (June 11-13, Madison, WI)
- Curious about volunteering? Fill out the interest form! Volunteers who help out for 4+ hours over the three days of the conference receive a discounted ticket of $100.
- The University of Wisconsin-Madison is offering lodging for conference attendees in Chadbourne Hall. It’s less than a mile from the conference venue, with shared rooms starting at $56/night. Learn more on the logistics page of our website.
- Thanks to local members of our Program Committee and Madison BCycle (the local bikeshare), conference attendees get 50% discount to their monthly pass. If you’ve registered for the conference, stay tuned for the discount code in your email.
Upcoming OSM US Working Group meetings:
All times are in Eastern Daylight Time. Sign up here.
- March 23 at 4:00pm: Trails Working Group
- April 8 at 11:00am: Collaborator’s Sync
- April 16 at 3:00pm: Education Working Group
- April 21 at 3:00pm: Pedestrian Working Group
April Updates
Jake’s Tech Corner
- Layercake has switched to using duckdb-osmium for generating layers rather than Python, which speeds up layer generation and makes it easier to add new layers (each layer is now defined by a single SQL query). Requests for new layers or new columns for existing layers are welcome.
- The Tileservice now indicates when each tileset was last built, and there’s an Atom feed you can subscribe to (compatible with most RSS readers) to know when new data is published.
- A bug in MapRoulette which caused tasks to be duplicated when challenges were refreshed with new data has been fixed, and the duplicate tasks have been merged back together in the database. This may affect leaderboard scores for users who worked on tasks which were deduplicated.
- OSMCha v1.3.2 is out, fixing a few bugs related to the filtering UI.
Mappy Hour: I’m Already Using OSM? (May 6 at 8:00pm EDT, online)
- For this Mappy Hour, we’ll be joined by the Esri team who will demonstrate how to access and interact with OSM data in their products.
- This Mappy Hour is in conjunction with the ongoing Narrative Map Competition, an opportunity to showcase OSM through the digital medium of your choice. Learn more about the competition here, and register by May 15 to get involved.
State of the Map US (June 11-13, Madison, WI)
- You can now view the conference program on our website.
- Prices increase on May 1, so be sure to register before this Friday if you’d like to save on registration!
Here are the upcoming OSM US Working Group meetings:
All times are in Eastern Daylight Time. Sign up here.
- May 11 at 2:00pm: Maintainers Working Group
- May 12 at 12:00pm: Imagery Working Group
- May 12 at 4:00pm: Government Working Group
- May 19 at 3:00pm: Pedestrian Working Group
- May 21 at 3:00pm: Education Working Group
May Updates:
OSM US recently welcomed a new Charter Project: Yesterdays! Yesterdays is a platform for georeferencing historic images, pulling from open data sources like OpenStreetMap, OpenHistoricalMap, and OldInsuranceMaps.net. Read more about the project in this blog post.
Mappy Hour: OpenWetlandsMap (July 22 at 8:00pm EDT, online)
- OSM US is partnering with the Environmental Policy Innovation Center on OpenWetlandsMap, and you can learn all about it in our upcoming Mappy Hour. Register for free here, then be on the lookout for a confirmation email with the Zoom information.
State of the Map US 2026 (June 11-13, Madison, WI)
- We’re less than three weeks away from SOTMUS 2026! If you’re meeting us in Madison, be sure to join the #sotmus-2026-attendees channel on the OSM US Slack.
Due to SOTMUS, there are no OSM US Working Group meetings in June! Keep an eye on the OSM US events calendar for meetings in July.