COSCUP 2026 · Taipei

Join the Open Map Community: FOSS4G, State of the Map Asia, and Beyond

Hiroshi Miura — Representative Director, OpenStreetMap Foundation Japan · Editor, weeklyOSM

You already know how to make the map better.

Let's talk about where the community meets next — this summer.

Who's talking

  • Hiroshi Miura
  • Representative Director, OpenStreetMap Foundation Japan (OSMFJ)
  • Editor, weeklyOSM
  • OSS maintainer: OmegaT, aqtinstall, py7zr
  • 30 years at NTT Data Group
  • Independent since March 2026 — founded ILOHA OpenLab LLC
  • Also: Digital Agency of Japan (open data), lecturer at Aoyama Gakuin University

The open map community has its own conference culture

and it doesn't stop at COSCUP

Right after COSCUP wraps up, two more gatherings happen just across the sea —
back to back, one right after the other.

My last in-person State of the Map before recent years was SotM Milano, 2018.
This year I'm back on the road — and I'd like you to come too.

FOSS4G Hiroshima 2026

TAIPEI— HIROSHIMA— OSAKA

Why Hiroshima

  • Theme: "Geospatial Information for Peace and a Sustainable Future"
  • Hiroshima bid for FOSS4G 2025 — lost by a single vote to Auckland
  • The proposal was well regarded and stayed under discussion — 2026: confirmed
  • A city that has spoken to the world about peace for 80 years, now hosting a
    conference built on open access to technology and knowledge for all

Local color: the Local Organizing Committee spans government, academia, industry, NPOs and OSS developers — many in their 20s and 30s, the payoff of years of OSGeo.JP community building.

When: three phases, one week

The numbers (as of July 2026)

~680participants
(a typical year draws ~1,000)
342+72general + academic talks accepted
20sponsors confirmed
(more mid-process)

Supported by MLIT and JpGU (confirmed); GSI and MOFA (application in progress). Program: 10 tracks · lightning talks · ~20 posters · community sprint.

Thinking about coming? Here's what makes it easy

  • Visa support — the LOC helps with the process
  • Japan-English interpretation in the main hall
  • Travel grants — including for refugees and evacuees in Japan
  • Subsidized lodging for students & volunteers
  • Rated among the world's safest countries
  • Safe for solo women travelers
  • Hiroshima issues LGBTQI+ partnership certificates
  • Nursery service available on-site

Sessions worth your calendar

"National Map Agent: An Open Geospatial Architecture for
Knowledge Graph–Driven GeoAI"

Dongpo Deng · Wed Sep 2, 13:00 · Room 6

Knowledge graphs meeting geospatial data — this is the direct bridge between this room's Wikidata track and next week's FOSS4G stage.

More sessions, AI & governance track

  • "Teaching AI to Contribute to Open Source: Lessons from MapLibre Agent Skills"
  • "AI-accelerated development and FOSS4G — a perspective into the future"
  • "Where next for OSGeo?" — Dennis Bauszus, incoming chair · Sep 1, 15:30
  • "Sustaining Open Source: Real Models, Real Lessons" — Jeroen Ticheler & Ana Belgun, current board members

Where is everyone coming from?

Taiwan: 4 registrations so far. Let's change that number tonight.

Stay for the Community Sprint — Sep 4–5

  • Hack directly with FOSS4G developers, including the QGIS community
  • Bring a laptop, bring an issue, bring a translation
  • This is where the localization push in a few slides actually happens

And it's not all code

  • Ice Breaker & Gala Dinner — near Peace Memorial Park
  • Kagura performance at dinner
  • Excursions to Miyajima and Hiroshima Castle
Itsukushimajinja

State of the Map Asia 2026 — Osaka

TAIPEI— HIROSHIMA— OSAKA

A smaller room, a closer conversation

  • Sep 6–7, Nakazakichō, Kita-ku, Osaka
  • Venue: Nakazakichō Hall / Salon de AManTo 天人
  • ~150 participants expected
  • Regional gathering: mapping knowledge, humanitarian workflows, open geodata
Salon de AManTo 天人

If FOSS4G is the big stage, SotM Asia is the room where you actually get to talk to everyone.

Two days, Osaka style

  • Sun Sep 6 — Mapping Party, then a Networking Party in the evening
  • Mon Sep 7 — Sessions, 10:00–19:00
  • Full program not yet published, but the shape is set

Just coming for the Mapping Party is a perfectly good reason to show up.

Call for Sessions — open now

Program isn't finalized. Your talk could still be on it.

  • Submit a session → link on stateofthemap.asia
  • Second Round due: August 10th 23:59:59(UTC)

An open-source summer trip

TAIPEI— HIROSHIMA— OSAKA

One region, three weeks, one itinerary

weeklyOSM: write about it afterward

What weeklyOSM is

  • A global OSM media outlet, run entirely by volunteers
  • Collects and shares community news from around the world, every week
  • Your blog post or trip report can reach the whole OSM community worldwide

The editor's-eye view

I read what comes in every week and turn it into the digest.

A three-paragraph trip report from Hiroshima or Osaka — what you saw, who you met,
what surprised you — is exactly the kind of thing that becomes a weeklyOSM item.

Write it. Send it. I'll probably be the one reading it.

Bring it home: help push Traditional Chinese forward

QGIS unlocks a localized site once a language crosses 35% translated.

35% unlock

Traditional Chinese (zh-Hant): 2.58% today.

I maintain OmegaT, a CAT tool used for exactly this kind of work — translation
is not a side project to me, it's how open-source communities stay usable for
everyone. Join the Sprint on Sep 4–5, sit with the QGIS team, and move this number.

No special knowledge required — you already have it

If you've ever edited a map, used open geodata, or wondered how the map on your
phone gets made — every event on this route is for you.

  • FOSS4G Hiroshima — Aug 30 – Sep 5
  • SotM Asia Osaka — Sep 6–7
  • weeklyOSM — write it down, tell the world

Government work, a university, a nonprofit, open-source maintenance — I do all of
these at once. Open communities are built exactly like that: room for everyone,
at the same table.

Let's talk

Come to Hiroshima. Come to Osaka. Write it up when you're back.

Hiroshi Miura · OSMFJ · weeklyOSM
2026.foss4g.org · stateofthemap.asia

Open with energy. This is a track for people who already know OSM/geodata — no need to explain what OpenStreetMap is.

Hook (SotM Taiwan / Wikidata Community Summit audience — skip the "what is OSM" explainer). ~1 min.

Keep this brisk — it's a credibility slide, not a biography. The "just went independent to focus on open work" beat is the interesting part, land it in one sentence. ~1.5 min.

Bridge slide. Personal touch: SotM Milano 2018 callback signals "I'm returning to the circuit," gives it a human throughline. ~1.5 min.

~1 min

Point out: workshops need your own laptop; sprint is where hacking happens. ~1.5 min.

~1.5 min

This slide exists to remove excuses. Say it plainly: "if any of these were the reason you hesitated, it's covered." ~1.5 min.

~1.5 min

~1.5 min

Also mention: the community-built Talk Explorer (foss4g2026talkexplorer.party071985.workers.dev) has English but no Chinese yet — an opening for a contribution, not a complaint. ~1 min.

~1.5 min, sets up the localization CTA later

~1 min

~1.5 min

~1.5 min

~1 min

~2 min: this is the "sell the trip" slide, let the visual carry it

~1.5 min

Personal beat: this is the "insider view" slide. If time allows, name a past issue or article as a concrete example. ~1.5 min.

~2 min: this is where the OmegaT identity earns its keep

~1.5 min closing

Q&A. ~1.5–3 min depending on how the room is feeling.