Who am I ?
I have been retired since 2020 after a long career in networking and IT security.
Since then, I’ve spent my time walking (nothing too ambitious: no mountains, but still around 2,000 km per year) and doing math (a lifelong hobby, mainly algebra focused on functional equations).
I discovered OSM very recently (spring 2025) when switching from Windows to Linux MINT and trying out my first smartphone with LineageOS (a de-Googled Android).
what follows is of course only my personal opinion
At first, I thought it was just a freely editable map application, before realizing that it is in fact:
- a global geospatial database with open contributions, listing and exposing only data that is free of rights, under the most permissive licenses possible.
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a vast open-source application ecosystem leveraging this geospatial database for a wide variety of uses:
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to contribute or make smart, efficient, even fun use of it.
- Tools I’ve looked at and used: Id, JOSM, OsmTracker, Osmose, StreetComplete, taginfo, overpass, panoramax, NSI
- Tools I’ve only skimmed so far: MapRoulette, Mon Commerce OSM, Libre Charge Map, H.O.T.
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to use the database for various purposes aimed at diverse audiences:
- The one that led me to OSM: OsmAnd, then leaflet and uMap
- Also cartes.app, and a bunch of hiking and cycling apps that I’ve only briefly glimpsed.
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- and of course, a set of proprietary applications built on the OSM database (not always with proper attribution, by the way)
So I created an account, joined OpenStreetMapFrance (not mandatory), and tried to understand enough of the principles, limitations, and recommendations to contribute effectively.
I’m now a regular reader of the WIKI and the forum (even though I sometimes struggle to follow whole conversations – such as those about hiking route relations, linear or networked…).
J’ai eu l’honneur de participer en présentiel à la première conférence State of the Map Global 2024 organisée en Afrique, au Kenya. Cette expérience a été marquante et enrichissante, me permettant de rencontrer de nombreux acteurs passionnés engagés dans divers projets. Bien que je sois la seule représentante du Bénin, je me suis sentie pleinement intégrée dans cette dynamique internationale. Retrouver des amis de la communauté Wikimedia à SotM a été une agréable surprise.
