Another year another State of the Map US! Over 300 mappers gathered in Boston, Massachusetts in late June for OpenStreetMap US’s 13th annual conference, and to celebrate the organization’s 15th anniversary.
This year, the OSM US team wants to look back on SotM US by highlighting your experiences as scholars, scavenger-hunters, educators, GIS professionals, first-timers, and OSM-lovers. Below are excerpts from a variety of blog posts, social media posts, and quotes from folks in the community – thank you for sharing your reflections. Think of this blog post as a digital postcard of sorts!
Lindsey Peña – Chief Operating Officer at NSGIC and conference scholar
“Have you ever experienced that amazing moment when you ⚡ZING⚡ with someone? During Andrew Middleton’s “Know Your Audience!” presentation at [State of the Map US] I experienced just that with Tee Barr. During the hands-on arts and crafts session (yes…markers, paper, tape and scissors were involved! ✂️), attendees were paired up and given the task to create a map of the room we were sitting in with a particular animal perspective in mind. Andrew made the rounds assigning animals…a horse 🐎, a mouse 🐁, and for me and Tee, it was the pigeon…”
Lindsey and Tee during Andrew’s Thursday workshop
(Read Lindsey’s full post on State of the Map US 2025 here.)
Mike Migurski – Chief Technology Officer at CARTO and SotM US veteran
“I’ve attended SOTM US since the first one In Atlanta and it’s consistently been one of my most valuable conferences each year. When I was working in an agency, a non-profit, a startup, or a major corporation the annual conference has always included the mappers, engineers, and community organizers I needed to stay connected with OpenStreetMap. OSM US does such a great job of keeping all these groups in its close orbit so everyone’s working toward the world’s best map.”
Jamie Tadrzynski – Educator in Nevada, conference scholar, and poster presenter
“I was lucky enough to attend the State of the Map US Conference in [Boston] last week with OpenStreetMap US and present some of my work with the Teen Maptivists initiative. My students and I have been researching food deserts in the city of North Las Vegas and in southern Nevada. It was such an interesting experience to be surrounded by professional and hobbyist geographers and lean more into the world of geospatial technologies. Coming from a more traditional historian-trained background, it has been eye opening to see the parallels of geography and history and intertwine the two…”
Jamie showcasing their poster on mapping food deserts in Las Vegas, Nevada
Jamie in a group photo with other educators and conference scholars
(Read more about Jamie’s thoughts here.)
Meagan Briganti – GIS Director at Kendall County, Illinois, speaker, and scavenger hunter
“[The] scavenger hunt was incredible! it was a wonderful way to explore the city and a great way to spend time with friends… The conference was incredibly refreshing and inspiring! Seeing so many people genuinely passionate about mapping and their community was awesome! It reminded me why I fell in love with Geography/mapping in the first place.”
(Be sure to check out Meagan and Josh Carlson’s talk: Hold on to your Pearls Grandma, We’re Switching to OSM!)
Jazzy Smith – Chief of Staff at BetaNYC and member of the OSM US Board of Directors
“At the heart of SOTM US are the people. What always sticks with me are the stories and the minutia of their day-to-days: what brought them here, what they care about, how mapping shows up in their lives, how their lives show up in the map. I always leave touched by what folks choose to share — their art, their struggles, their neighborhoods.
I met Clifford Snow, known for his large contributions in the Pacific Northwest. He’s also a glass-blowing artist — his OSM username is Glassman. I attended his talk on Safe Routes to School, where he discussed how OSM can be used to map key pedestrian infrastructure around schools: speed limits, traffic calming, crosswalks, and more. Clifford’s talk was a reminder that good mapping reflects the needs of local communities. Something as simple as walking to school — often treated as just another challenge — can become something we care for and improve through mapping.
Clifford giving his talk on Safe Routes to School on Friday
I didn’t get to see Tim Feller’s talk in person, but I heard it was phenomenal — and from my interactions with him, he is a thoughtful and hilarious person. His presentation, Mapping for Neurodiversity: A Call to Innovate, invited the OSM community to consider how mapping can better serve people who are neurodiverse. He introduced neurodiversity as an umbrella term that embraces a wide range of cognitive differences — including autism, ADHD, dyslexia, Tourette’s, and more — and challenged us to consider how we describe features, choose datasets, and collaborate. His talk explored sensory-friendly mapping, inclusive cartography, and game-based learning, and from what I heard, folks left inspired and thinking differently about what inclusive mapping can look like.”
(Read the rest of Jazzy’s blog post on the BetaNYC website.)
Looking for more State of the Map US content? View conference photos on the OpenStreetMap US Flickr, and watch recorded talks on our Youtube channel.
