OpenStreetMap is a lot of things to a lot of people, but some folks are getting left behind!
Diversity is sorely lacking among OpenStreetMap contributors. Many organizations and individuals are working to shed light on this predicament.
This International Women’s Day, the OpenStreetMap community is setting out to increase the number of women and girls contributing. They’re doing so through a nation-wide Mapathon on Tuesday, March 8, which aims to introduce and encourage more female contributors to OSM. Organizations across the US are hosting mapping parties for women and girls who would like to contribute to OpenStreetMap.
“Because editing OSM gives participants a voice in how their communities are represented to the world, because digital literacy is a must-know skill, because women and girls around the world are disproportionately burdened with work that prevents their participation in “extra” activities, this International Women’s Day we ask every OSM community member around the world to contribute to gender parity.” – Drishtie Patel, OSM US
We are excited to support this important cause, and to do so, Mapzen will be hosting a Mapping Party in our NYC office! We’d love to see more women and girls get introduced to OpenStreetMap and will be walking newcomers through their first edits. We are going to focus our editing efforts around inclusive OSM tags that benefit a more diverse audience.
There will be healthy refreshments and snacks for all. Folks are welcome to stop by with the whole family. Younger kids can draw maps and the older ones can make their first OSM edit if they’re up for it!
So grab your friends and family, and head on over to our NYC office at 6:00pm on March 8th! (see event page for details) We can’t wait to see you!
