State of the Map 2026: OpenStreetMap conference
The author reflects on their return to the State of the Map conference after 15 years, highlighting the growth of OpenStreetMap in academic research. The event emphasized the strong community ties and the continued relevance of OSM data in scientific studies.
Why it matters
OpenStreetMap remains a critical global resource for researchers and developers, and this report underscores the longevity and evolution of open-source geospatial projects.
On 29-30 August, I attended the State of the Map (SotM) conference, in particular the scientific part. It’s been 15 years since the last time that I attended the SotM conference (last time 2011!) , and it’s an opportunity to fill in a knowledge gap that I developed over this period. Unlike other conference reports that I’ve written, I am not summarising sessions, but capturing my impressions and aspects that I note through the renewed engagement with OpenStreetMap (OSM). The scientific part of the conference was particularly interesting for me, because it expresses the type of researchers that selected to present their work back to the community. Although the academic track is peer-reviewed and operates more like a scientific conference, the aim of the conference as a whole is more towards the community of OSM than the usual academic conference.
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