Charter

MapLibre Charter

Definitions

MapLibre Organization: An umbrella organization to develop, maintain and promote MapLibre software projects.

MapLibre Projects: Multiple repositories, each being some part of the map visualization stack from the raw data to the map visualization and interaction.

MapLibre: As a single word, “MapLibre” is a brand name used by the front-end map rendering MapLibre projects (i.e. code libraries).

MapLibre Community: People interested in the MapLibre Projects. Anyone can be part of the MapLibre Community and there are no special requirements except to follow the Community Code of Conduct. For example, the Community members … :

  • evangelize about the MapLibre Organization and its Projects
  • educate new users on the project’s strengths and weaknesses
  • provide moral support (a ‘thank you’ goes a long way)
  • support the MapLibre Organization financially
  • improve code and fix bugs
  • help with documentation
  • give advice to others

Technical Steering Committee: An informal group of people who meet on a monthly basis and discuss technical topics related to software development. Everyone is welcome to join the Technical Steering Committee.

Voting Member: A person who can elect the Governing Board and vote on changes to the MapLibre Charter.

Governing Board: The elected representatives of the MapLibre Community who help shape the Organization’s overall direction and who are responsible for the Organization’s finances.

Third-party Organization: A company or organization that uses MapLibre software for commercial or non-commercial purposes.

MapLibre Organization Goals

The MapLibre Organization develops free and open-source libraries and tools for mapping that enable others build applications and services.

The primary goal of the MapLibre Organization is to build a friendly and innovative open-source community around the unaffiliated MapLibre Projects.

The MapLibre Organization aims to encourage code development. We prefer to empower our users to build end-user applications, design maps, run map hosting services or distribute data rather than making it part of the MapLibre Projects.

Governance Bodies

The MapLibre Organization has three Governance Bodies which support and represent the broader MapLibre Community:

  • Technical Steering Committee
  • Governing Board
  • Voting Members

Technical Steering Committee

The Technical Steering Committee discusses technical topics that affect multiple MapLibre Projects, coordinates ongoing work, and decides if proposed changes with a major impact should be accepted or not.

The committee meets on a monthly basis on a video call.

The Technical Steering Committee is open to everyone and there are no special requirements if someone wants to join it.

Some Projects may have their own steering committees to discuss issues relevant to just that Project (e.g., native, gl-js, …).

Governing Board

The Governing Board helps the Community to define our scope and direction, and is responsible for the organization finances.

The Board is a group of 5 people who represent the MapLibre Organization.

While the Governing Board’s purpose is not to handle technical topics in general, the Board retains the authority over all decisions the MapLibre Projects make, and may overrule the Technical Steering Committee in case of a dispute.

No more than one person on the Governing Board shall be employed or contracted by a single Third-party Organization.

The Board shall have at least the following roles:

  • Treasurer: Responsible for financial transactions and accounting.
  • Secretary: Responsible for taking and publishing meeting notes and management of Voting membership.

The Governing Board meets at least 4 times per year, publishes quarterly financial reports, and shares the content of their meetings with the MapLibre Community to the extent the Board deems appropriate.

Voting Members

Voting Members are people who elect the Governing Board and who vote on changes to the MapLibre Charter.

A precondition to becoming a Voting Member is that the person contributed in a non-trivial way or that they donated funds to the MapLibre Organization.

If Voting Members are paid by a Third-party Organization for their work on the MapLibre Projects, they shall declare publicly who their employer is. At most 10 percent of the Voting Members shall be employed by a single Third-party Organization.

Voting Members shall inform the MapLibre Organization if their work situation with respect to being paid for working on MapLibre Projects changes.

Voting Members can nominate other Community members to receive Voting membership in acknowledgement of their contributions to the MapLibre Projects. The Voting Members then vote on granting the nominee a Voting membership.

Nominations for new Voting Members are open up to two weeks before the election of the Governing Board and the vote on granting Voting Membership to somebody takes place one week before the election of the Governing Board.

Governing Board Election

Governing Board elections are announced at least four weeks in advance.

Nomination process:

  • A person can nominate themselves as a candidate for the Governing Board.
  • Candidates have to register themselves up to 2 weeks before the election.

Voting process:

  • Governing Board elections take place every year.
  • Each Voting Member ranks all nominees according to ranked-choice voting.
  • The nominee with the highest ranking gets appointed, the nominee with the second highest ranking gets appointed, and so on.
  • In case there are multiple nominees per Third-party Organization, only the one with the highest ranking gets appointed.
  • In case of a tie where more nominees than remaining seats receive an equal ranking, the vote shall be repeated for the remaining seats.

Terms of Governing Board Members

Governing Board members will serve for a one-year term.

Governing Board Member Remuneration

Governing Board members receive no remuneration by the MapLibre Organization for their services on the Board, other than reimbursement for the out-of-pocket expenses incurred when carrying out activities on behalf of the Governing Board. Such expenses must be pre-authorized by at least two other board members.

Conflicts of Interest

The Governing Board members are aware that conflicts of interest can arise between their role as Governing Board members and their personal and professional activities.

The Governing Board members inform each other about potential conflicts of interest and recuse from votes if they find themselves subject to a conflict of interest.

Recusals shall be published in the Governing Board meeting notes, however, a justification for a recusal does not have to be included.

Replacement of Governing Board Members

In the event of a Governing Board member resigning from the Board during a term, the nominees from the last election with the highest ranking shall be contacted with a proposal to serve in the Government Board until the next election is called.

Snap Election

A snap election of the Governing Board, i.e., an election which takes place within the usual one year period, may be called if 50 percent of Voting Members who participated in the last election sign a no-confidence motion.

If a no-confidence motion passes, the current Governing Board shall until the next election not take any major decision, such as but not limited to:

  • authorizing new expenditures
  • make any changes to personnel.

Within two weeks, a person can nominate themselves as a candidate for the Governing Board. The snap election shall take place two weeks after the self-nomination deadline, i.e., four weeks after a no-confidence motion passes.

Changes to the MapLibre Charter

  • Voting Members can propose changes to the MapLibre Charter.
  • Changes to the Charter require a Voting Members vote with a two-thirds majority of the people who participate in the vote.
  • The vote on changing the Charter shall be announced at least 4 weeks in advance together with the proposed new Charter.

This Charter was approved by the MapLibre Voting Members via online vote on 2022-08-25.