Distributed, online workshops to discuss best practices and potential standardization of map viewers built using the web platform
Maps of Montreal, past, present, and future. Maps for the Web, Sept−Oct 2020, #Maps4HTML

Call For Participation

The W3C/OGC Joint Workshop Series on Maps for the Web will be a distributed, online meeting of developers, cartographers, policy makers, and other people with an interest in the future of Web standards relating to use of spatial information to display maps on the Web.

The objective of the workshop series, its scope, and potential topics are outlined on the overview page. See the original list of potential topics, at the end of this page. Participants are welcome to suggest other topics within the scope.

The workshop series will include both presentations and discussions.

Presentations, demos, and panel sessions will be conducted as video-conferences (or optionally pre-recorded video presentations) which will be posted online for asynchronous viewing. Presentations will be grouped into themes, with one theme posted online per day.

Discussion and questions will be via written forums over the course of a month. There will be discussions specifically around the presentations, as well as the possibility of participant-initiated discussion topics. In addition, we encourage people working on open source software or standards related to web maps to propose hack sessions to introduce their projects and invite feedback or collaboration.

The workshop language is English.

How can I participate?

You can request to participate in the workshop series in one or more ways:

If you wish to attend, please fill out the registration form. The registration form asks several questions about your background and ideas; please give these questions serious thought.

If you wish to suggest a talk or demo/hack session, or to contribute a written position statement, please also send an email to the program committee, with details as described below for talks, demos and hack day projects, or written statements.

To help with planning and communication, we ask all participants to register in advance. You will get an acceptance email to confirm registration. Please review the important dates for submission deadlines.

Participation is free. Anyone may ask to participate, whether or not they represent a W3C member organization.

Our aim is to get diverse participation from a variety of individuals with different backgrounds and experiences including geospatial information experts, Web map tool developers, Web standards and browser developers, website developers who specialize in mapping or geographic data visualization, online map services product owners/managers, and business development, corporate strategy and innovation from the various industries and sectors that create or use online map data.

Important Dates

Call for participation open:20 April 2020
Application and session suggestion deadline:15 July 2020 (extended)
Acceptance notifications:27 July 2020
Program announcement:1 August 2020
Final deadline to submit written position statements and presentation slides/handouts:1 September 2020
Video sessions:21 September −
2 October 2020
Discussion forum open:14 September −
31 October 2020
Final report published:January 2021

How can I suggest a presentation or panel session?

The deadline for submitting proposals for presentations has passed

Submission Requirements

The goal of this event is to actively discuss topics, not to watch presentations. Presentations and panel discussions will be curated by the program committee to help provide background knowledge and experience needed to kick-start the conversation. Presentations will be short, and will be grouped into common themes to provide an array of perspectives on a topic.

If you wish to present on a topic, please email the program committee a summary of your proposal, by the application deadline (see important dates).

A good talk proposal should be concise (fewer than 600 words) and include the following information:

  1. Who would be presenting.
  2. A short title or topic statement for the presentation.
  3. Whether you think this topic would be best served as a full (15 minute) presentation, a lightning talk, or a Q&A panel.
  4. Which of the suggested topics your presentation covers; or, for a new topic, how it relates to the workshop series scope.
  5. What unique information, experience, or perspectives you would provide.
  6. For live video chat panels, what times of day (in UTC timezone) are you available for?

All suggested presenters should also fill out the attendee registration form. Information from the form (including affiliations and biography or background) will be considered part of the proposal and may be included on the workshop series website, linked from the final talk description in the agenda.

Our program committee will review the proposals and other application information to select the most relevant topics and diverse perspectives. If there are multiple submissions on similar topics, the committee may suggest modifying your proposal to focus on a unique aspect, or to shorten it for a lightning talk. Alternatively, multiple speakers on a single topic may be combined into a moderated panel discussion.

Presenters are expected to provide copies of their slides or other relevant material in advance of their workshop (see important dates); these will also be published so that other participants might review them.

How can I suggest a hack or demo project?

The deadline for submitting proposals for demo projects has passed

Submission Requirements

In addition to the structured discussions on standardization, a secondary goal of the workshop series is to connect people from different areas of expertise in Web mapping, in a virtual hackathon.

During the workshop series, we will host parallel tracks for demonstrating and hacking on web map projects, to spark new collaboration opportunities between workshop participants. Hack day sessions can focus on

The structure of the hack sessions could include video tutorials or other presentations, live video chat Q&A sessions, or written discussion forums. This is a new type of event, so we are open to other suggestions for structure.

Hack day sessions can be proposed by sending an email to the program committee with a summary of your proposal, by the application deadline (see important dates).

A good hack session proposal should be concise (fewer than 600 words) and include the following information:

  1. Who would be leading the session.
  2. A short title or topic statement for the session.
  3. What web map tools, geographic data sources, or other projects you'd be working with.
  4. How much background experience session participants should have.
  5. What your expected goals or outcomes for the session are.
  6. What structure do you think would work best to achieve those goals? If it would include live video chat sessions: what times of day (in UTC timezone) are preferred, and how many sessions would you be available for?

Hack sessions should not be commercial sales pitches! If your session would include the use of a commercial tool or data source, please emphasize how it would focus on the use of open source or standardized tools or data as well.

The program committee will review proposals with a focus on providing a set of sessions and projects that will be of interest to a wide variety of workshop participants.

How can I provide a written position statement?

Written position statements allow you or your organization to formally express your priorities or concerns with respect to the standardization of maps for the Web. They also allow all workshop participants to identify, in advance, areas of consensus or disagreement for discussion.

Statements will be posted on the workshop website, and must be submitted by email to the program committee, by the deadline for written submissions (see important dates).

A good position statement should be between 200 and 1000 words, focus on the scope of the workshop series, and should include:

  1. A brief overview of your experience or background, as it relates to Web maps.
  2. Which aspects of Web maps you think would benefit (or not) from standardization, and why.
  3. Any specific use cases or requirements you have for standardized Web maps.
  4. Examples of best practices you think should be followed (or worst practices that should be avoided).
  5. Links to related supporting resources: standards, research, reports, explainers, software projects, or datasets.

Position statements should focus on technical issues (what should be standardized), not the standardization process.

How can my organization sponsor the workshop series?

We welcome additional sponsors to help us make the workshop series comprehensive and inclusive. See our sponsor information page for more information and to apply.

Program Committee

Please send all session submissions, written statements, and questions about your registration to the program committee:

group-maps-submission@w3.org

For more general comments or questions about the workshop series and agenda, email the program committee's discussion list: public-maps-workshop-pc@w3.org. Please note that all messages sent to this list are posted in a public web archive; you will need to respond to a verification email before your message is posted to the committee.

Proposals, presentations, and position statements must be in English. (You may include your own translations, but these will be considered unofficial.) Written material should be in HTML or plain-text format, although PDF is also acceptable for talk slides or position statements.

Committee chairs

Committee members

Code Of Conduct

Participants in this workshop series, as in all W3C activities, are expected to follow the W3C code of ethics and professional conduct and treat each other with respect, professionalism, fairness, and sensitivity to our many differences and strengths.

Issues of inappropriate behavior may be raised with the W3C Ombuds (offline), or with any member of the Program Committee.

What is W3C?

W3C is a voluntary standards consortium that convenes companies and communities to help structure productive discussions around existing and emerging technologies, and offers a Royalty-Free patent framework for Web Recommendations. W3C develops work based on the priorities of our members and our community.

What is OGC?

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is an international consortium of more than 530 businesses, government agencies, research organizations, and universities driven to make geospatial (location) information and services FAIR - Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.

Potential Topics

The final agenda of talks and workshop sessions will be determined based on responses to the call for participation. However, the following areas are of particular interest: