The first Academic Track of State of the Map (SotM) was organized at SotM 2018 in Milan, Italy. Since then, it has been held regularly, continuing even during the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2023, the track was hosted within SotM EU and renamed OSM Science to emphasize its role as the only academic meeting dedicated exclusively to research on and with OpenStreetMap (OSM). From 2018 to 2023, the hosting locations—Milan, Italy; Heidelberg, Germany; Florence, Italy; and Antwerp, Belgium (with Cape Town omitted, as SotM 2020 was moved online due to the pandemic)—all lay within Central Europe. This concentration reflects broader publication patterns, as most OSM-related academic papers are authored by scholars based in Europe. The 2024 and 2025 editions, however, mark a departure from this trend, with OSM Science following SotM to Nairobi, Kenya in 2024 and Manila, the Philippines in 2025. These shifts create a unique opportunity to explore the implications of expanding OSM Science to new regions. They raise important questions about whether holding the meeting outside Europe alters the nature of the event and whether such moves influence representation—shaping who authors contributions, what topics are investigated, and which case study locations are highlighted. This must also take into account the growing role of remote participation, normalized during the Covid-19 years.

GRINBERGER A. Yair;  ZANCHETTA Anna;  MARTINEZ Simeona;  SAMSON Briane Paul V.;  MINGHINI Marco;  MOONEY Peter; 

2026-07-16

Zenodo

JRC143955

https://zenodo.org/records/21007865,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC143955,   

10.5281/zenodo.21007865 (online),