1/ For more than 5 years now we've been interviewing OpenStreetMap communities small and large over on our blog.

Travel is pretty restricted right now so we thought it might be fun to go on a little virtual journey to revisit how OSM works around the world

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2/ But first, why do we do these blog interviews? Simple: because OpenStreetMap is the basis of our geocoding API. ICYMI here's our thread from a few weeks ago about why open data matters: https://twitter.com/OpenCage/status/1337356568204091393

3/ One of coolest things about OpenStreetMap is that the world is such a geographically and culturally diverse place, and yet we all contribute to the same open database. Sounds obvious, but really how many examples of truly global cooperation are there?

4/ So buckle up, let's go. OSM started in the UK , so let's start there! We've had the chance to talk with OSMers in Scotland @OSMScotland https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/98216589988/open-geo-interview-series-state-of-osm-in and Wales @MapioCymru https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/openstreetmap-interview-cymru but also smaller groups like @BexhillOSM https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/openstreetmap-in-bexhill-uk

5/ Staying in Europe we've chatted with @osm_be https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/144645475193/country-profile-openstreetmap-in-belgium @OSMLatvija https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/108909920038/country-profile-openstreetmap-in-latvia but also regional groups like South Tyrol https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/155402204823/openstreetmap-in-south-tyrol-martin-raifer and @osmcatala https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/118777421933/country-profile-openstreetmap-in-catalonia (and many others)

6/ Let's go to Africa! We've learned about OSM in Tunisia https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/160258278083/openstreetmap-in-tunisia-mohamed-marrouchi Cameroon @OSMCameroun https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/146417915218/country-profile-openstreetmap-in-cameroon @OSMTogo https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/136746732713/country-profile-openstreetmap-in-togo Nigeria OSMNigeria https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/openstreetmap-in-nigeria and several more ...

7/ next stop South America where we've learned about OSM in Argentina @OpenStreetMapAR https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/163087497973/openstreetmap-in-argentina Brazil @OpenStreetMapBR https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/121104354648/country-profile-openstreetmap-in-brazil Chile @osmCL https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/98916200238/country-profile-state-of-openstreetmap-in-chile and more

8/ Heading north from there we've spoken with folks from OSM Mexico @OpenStreetMapMX https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/openstreetmap-in-mexico Cuba https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/144469399468/country-profile-openstreetmap-in-cuba Nicaragua https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/138167564723/country-profile-openstreetmap-in-nicaragua and Costa Rica https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/154758957203/country-profile-openstreetmap-in-costa-rica ...

9/ continuing north, we've chatted about local communities with OSMers about the pleasure and pain of mapping in Montana https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/openstreetmap-in-montana and Colorado https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/152476173643/regional-profile-openstreetmap-in-colorado ...

10/ crossing the pacific we head to the Asia/Pacific region, where we've heard from OSMers in Indonesia @OSM_ID https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/100941606733/country-profile-state-of-openstreetmap-in Sri Lanka https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/159238804903/openstreetmap-in-sri-lanka-vivien-deparday Bangladesh https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/99749986348/country-profile-state-of-openstreetmap-in

11/ We hope our interviews help show off the diversity, but
also remind us we're all working towards the same goal. You can see the list of all our OSM interviews here: https://blog.opencagedata.com/tagged/osminterview

12/ Obviously there are many more OpenStreetMap communities around the world than those we've had the chance to speak with. Please get in touch if you'd like to share your local story on our blog We'd love to hear from you https://opencagedata.com/contact 

13/ Finally, we also often chat (literally) w/ members of OpenStreetMap community on the @geomob podcast Ex: @jnicho02 from @OSMUK https://thegeomob.com/podcast/episode-57 @timetabling of @graphhopper https://thegeomob.com/podcast/episode-24 and @lontanviadi maker of nominatim https://thegeomob.com/podcast/episode-35