We are supporting the OpenStreetMap Foundation’s $60,000 (£40,000) funding drive for new server infrastructure with a contribution of $20,000. If you hold a stake in OpenStreetMap large or small, we encourage you to chip in, too.
OpenStreetMap GPS Tracks by Eric Fischer
The OpenStreetMap Foundation’s Operations Working Group plans to spend the newly raised funds on a full hardware replacement for the existing server powering OpenStreetMap’s core read/write API. This upgrade comes at an important time for OpenStreetMap.org which continues to grow doubling its registered user count over the last year and handling over 10,000 edits every single day.
According to Andy Allan from the Operations Work Group, this investment will allow OpenStreetMap to handle its explosive growth for at least over the next 12 months. Beyond this immediate hardware upgrade, there are plans to further split out functionality that would increase this time horizon. Scaling OpenStreetMap for years to come will be a larger conversation that we here at MapBox are looking forward to be a part of.
To contribute to this vital upgrade, just use the OpenStreetMap Foundation’s donation form. For any questions around larger contributions, please contact Simon Poole, chairman of the OpenStreetMap Foundation, directly. If you’re coming out to State of the Map US in San Francisco look out for Birds of a Feather sessions on fundraising and architecture for a future OpenStreetMap infrastructure.