OpenStreetMap
I had the privilege of presenting about weeklyOSM at COSCUP 2025, Taiwan’s largest open source conference, held on August 9–10, 2025, at the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST) in Taipei. This year also marked COSCUP’s 20th anniversary, making it an especially meaningful event to join in celebrating open source.
About My Presentation
My talk, titled “Behind the Scenes of weeklyOSM: How We Share OSM News Every Week,” focused on the inner workings of our community-driven newsletter.
For those unfamiliar, weeklyOSM is an independent, multilingual publication that has summarized developments in the OpenStreetMap (OSM) world every week for more than a decade—now surpassing 780 editions.
Key Topics
During the session, I highlighted:
- weeklyOSM’s Mission – Connecting mappers worldwide by bringing local stories to a global audience. We aim to be the heartbeat of the OSM community, delivering the pulse of mapping activities around the globe.
- Independence – weeklyOSM operates as an independent media platform, unaffiliated with any organization (including OSMF), and delivers news in over 15 languages to ensure accessibility for everyone.
- Our Toolchain – A closer look at OSMBC (OpenStreetMap Blog Collector), the open-source platform we use for collecting, authoring, translating, reviewing, and publishing news.
- How We Collect News – From OSM diaries, community channels, and social media, to direct submissions, ensuring comprehensive and balanced coverage.
- Taiwan’s Role – Taiwan’s active mapping scene and unique events, such as night market mapping parties, which exemplify how local stories can inspire and educate a global audience.
