OpenStreetMap Foundation

GPStogo is a scheme for providing GPS receivers, for the purpose of contributing to OSM, to people in developing countries where the cost is otherwise prohibitively expensive.

The OpenStreetMap Foundation, who are the operators of this scheme, aims to lend GPS units, on a long-term basis, to suitably qualified people in any developing country.

The initial goal is to purchase one GPS unit per month and loan it for a minimum period of 6 months to individuals in developing countries who are committed to surveying and creating OpenStreetMap data.

Subscribers

You can help this programme by creating a regular subscription of £5 (USD 10, EUR 10) per month to the GPStogo scheme. To set up a regular donation follow the instructions here.  If you want an idea of who the recipients are likely to be you can take a look at the list of qualified candidates.

One-off donations are, of course, also welcome.

If you have an old GPS receiver that you no longer use then it may be possible to donate this to someone directly.  Please consult the list of qualified recipients to see if you can match your GPS with someone’s requirements.

Recipients

Individuals in any developing country who would like to obtain a GPS receiver under this scheme will need to fulfill the following conditions:

You must be a permanent resident in a developing country. A developing country is any country in this list (Wikipedia).

You must have already made some contribution to the OSM project, either by tracing features from Yahoo! imagery, landsat or other allowable source. The tracing does not necessarily have to be of the area where you live. Other contributions such as wiki maintenance, software development, dataset uploads etc will also be counted as contributions to the project.

You must be a registered OSM user, and your edits must be made public so that we can identify and confirm your contributions.

To apply for a GPS under the GPStogo scheme please fill out this form. Applicants will be ranked in order of extent of contribution, GDP of country (applicants from poorer countries will have a higher ranking) and date of application. The scheme operators may also, at their discretion, take into account other special circumstances.

If your application is successful you will be loaned a GPS receiver for a period of six months. At the end of that period you must either return the GPS to the OSMF or request a further six month loan. You request for a loan extension will be approved if, in the opinion of the scheme operators, you have made significant contributions using the GPS receiver in the previous six months.

While you are in possession of the GPS receiver, you will be expected to:

Use it to record GPX tracks and tag these with reasonable care and diligence. All appropriate GPX tracks and tagging should be uploaded to the OpenStreetMap servers on a regular and timely basis.

Care for and maintain the GPS receiver with the same diligence as if it were you own personal property.

Make regular blog entries in your user diary on the OpenStreetMap site in a way that assures donors to the GPStogo scheme that you are making a valuable contribution to the project.

Seek opportunities to promote OSM locally and encourage other people to contribute to the project and to use maps and other products and services that make use of OSM data. Promotion can take many forms, a talk at a community meeting, a published news article, word-of-mouth, etc.

Give consent to the use of your name, a digital photo and details of your mapping activities for use in local or international media for OSM promotion purposes.

Have fun.