Workshop: Creating Inclusive Cartographies with OpenStreetMap

Creating Inclusive Cartographies with OpenStreetMap

Workshop Series

Signup - 27th June @ University of Warwick Participant Information Leaflet About the research project Register your interest

A map of Georgia, by Du Bois, colorfully indicates the number of acres owned by African-Americans in each county

Are you interested in maps and in how underrepresented demographics are represented? Have you ever considered that maps are not inclusive enough and might not be working for everyone (and maybe for you)? This is your opportunity to design and build alternative maps based on equity principles that serve your needs.

In this workshop, you will learn how to create maps that address particular needs of underrepresented minorities using data that is available in OpenStreetMap (albeit not always displayed or even ‘hidden’) in innovative ways. You will work as part of a group to decide what types of data from OpenStreetMap you would like to see on a map, and how would you want it to be represented. Finally, you will be designing a cartographic style to address a particular need of your choice.

What will you get from this workshop?

Beyond contributing to the research made at “Can Digital Goods be Neutral? Evaluating neutrality in OpenStreetMap”, participants will be getting the following:

Theoretical understanding of the relationship between maps and the politics of representation.
Understanding of how OpenStreetMap data works, how to contribute to it and how to query it for your purposes.
Technical knowledge to create custom map styles for OpenStreetMap.

Session's outline

Introductions and Talks (Feminist Mapping and OpenStreetMap):
Defining map's aim and audience: given a series of prompts, participants will define what situation/problem/context will their map be addressing
Data: participants will be deciding which of the available data would want to see included in their maps, and retrieving the data.
Cartography: participants will be deciding how to represent the data of their choice in order to address the map's goals.
Discussion and evaluation.

Participant Information Leaflet

Thank you for taking an interest in participating in our research project! Participation is entirely voluntary, and we are deeply grateful for your invaluable help. In this document, you will find key information about who we are, what we do, what we’d like to ask you and what your rights are so you can make an informed decision.

Who are we?

We are Dr Carlos Cámara-Menoyo and Dr Timothy Monteath, both working at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies (University of Warwick) and acting as Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator of this project, respectively. We are partnering with Geochicas, a collective of feminist women linked to OpenStreetMap who work for women's empowerment and the reduction of the gender gap in OpenStreetMap communities and in communities associated with the world of free software and open data.

You can contact us for any queries about the project and your involvement on it at carlos.camara@warwick.ac.ukand timothy.monteath@warwick.ac.uk

This project has been funded by the ESRC Digital Good Network, in their 2024 Research Fund call, aimed at evaluating digital goods.

What are we doing? What we’d like to ask you

We would like to join a workshop aimed at producing alternative cartographies that address particular needs of underrepresented minorities using data that is available in OpenStreetMap (albeit hidden or not displayed at all) in innovative ways.

Taking part in this workshop will involve spending 5 hours with fellow (and potentially, interesting) people interested in maps, data visualizations, and/or EDI issues. You will be critically engaging in discussions based on experiences about neutrality and maps, and you will be learning how OpenStreetMap works and how to use it to create customized maps. Refreshments and food will be served.

Do you need to take part? What are the possible benefits of taking part in this study?

For us, your participation will be useful in two ways. First, it will provide insights that will contribute to critically enquiry about neutrality as an aspiration and guiding principle in OpenStreetMap. Second, it will provide specific examples of how cartography can be used to address particular needs of underrepresented demographics.

For you, you will be acquiring technical and critical skills to produce your own cartographies using OpenStreetMap data and Free/Libre Open-Source tools that you can use for your own purposes.

What kind of data are we collecting?

We will be collecting the following types of data:

Maps produced by the groups: these maps will not contain any personal data.
Maps medatadata describing the map’s aim, their design principles and, optionally, the names/nicknames of their authors.
Survey evaluating the impact of the workshop and the visualisations. The survey will not be associated with participants, as we are only interested in aggregated results.
Notes from discussions, only containing what was said, not who said it.
Occasional pictures of the process. Participants not wanting to appear in pictures will be visually identified and no pictures with them will be taken.

The workshop will be following Chatham House Rules, i.e. anyone attending is free to use information from it, but is not allowed to reveal who made any particular comment. This means that we will not be collecting any personal data (unless the author explicitly agrees on that).

What will we do with this data?

We will use the data to support findings in research-related outputs such as academic papers or blog posts.

Following our commitment for open and impactful research, we will also be creating a repository of the maps produced on the workshops as well as associated metadata, for others to use under an open licence.

We expect to (but can’t commit to) return findings to the OpenStreetMap community, to inform decisions that would make it more inclusive.

What to do if you want more information or want to make a complaint?

This study has been reviewed and given favourable opinion by the University of Warwick’s Humanities and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee (HSSREC).

If you require further information, please contact Dr Carlos Cámara-Menoyo:

Carlos.camara@warwick.ac.uk

If you wish to make a complaint, this should be addressed to the person below, who is a senior University of Warwick official entirely independent of this study:

Head of Research Governance
Research & Impact Services
University House
University of Warwick
Coventry
CV4 8UW
Email: researchgovernance@warwick.ac.uk
Tel: 02476 575733

If you wish to raise a complaint on how we have handled your personal data, you can contact our Data Protection Officer who will investigate the matter: DPO@warwick.ac.uk.

If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are processing your personal data in a way that is not lawful you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Signup for the 27th June at the University of Warwick Campus

Dates and venue

The first workshop of the series will take place on the 8th May at the University of Warwick Campus:

Room: FAB4.52, University of Warwick
Date: Friday, 27/06/2025
Time: 9:00-17:00

If you are interested in taking part of this, but can't make it on this day, please register your interest so we can invite you to future editions.

Who is this workshop for?

Anyone wanting to attend will be welcome, but people from any of these broad groups will find it particularly interesting:

People from non-hegemonic demographics (women, racialized, LGTBQ+) who feel that current maps do not sufficiently address their needs.
Map enthusiasts, Data visualization enthusiasts and OpenStreetMap users with a keen interest in EDI issues.
Activists, Researchers, or people sensitive to EDI issues and inequalities (we will particularly welcome people interested in issues related to gender, race or queer topics).

Pre-requisites

No previous knowledge about mapping or OpenStreetMap is required, although it will be welcome. The workshop will provide the necessary introduction to the topics.
Participants will need to bring their laptop