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Project Steering Committee

Tobia Di Pisa edited this page Feb 23, 2026 · 27 revisions

Welcome to the MapStore organizational system. As with any open source project, we start with people. The MapStore Project Steering Committee governs the MapStore project by (e.g.) voting on project policies.

Summary

This document describes the role and responsibilities of the Project Steering Committee, as well as the process under which it operates. Much of the definition and inspiration for the MapStore PSC role and responsibilities is taken from the GeoServer's PSC policies.

Structure

The PSC is made up of individuals who are intended to represent the various communities which have a stake in MapStore. An odd number is chosen to facilitate the voting process and help prevent ties. However, even with an odd number, the voting system may still allow for a tie in some cases. For this reason the PSC has an appointed Chair, whose sole responsibility is to break ties among the PSC.

Turnover is allowed and expected to accommodate people only able to become active on the project in intervals. A PSC member may step down at any time.

Current PSC members

Members Company Email Github
Giovanni Allegri GeoSolutions giovanni.allegri@geosolutionsgroup.com https://github.com/giohappy
Stefano Bovio GeoSolutions stefano.bovio@geosolutionsgroup.com https://github.com/allyoucanmap
Tobia Di Pisa GeoSolutions tobia.dipisa@geosolutionsgoup.com https://github.com/tdipisa
Lorenzo Natali GeoSolutions lorenzo.natali@geosolutionsgroup.com https://github.com/offtherailz
Jonas Naursgaard Jensen Nordiq JNA@nordiq-group.dk https://github.com/jna4k
Matteo Velludini GeoSolutions matteo.velludini@geosolutionsgroup.com https://github.com/MV88

Current PSC Chair: Tobia Di Pisa

Former Members

We would like to thank prior PSC members:

  • Mauro Bartolomeoli

PSC Membership

New PSC members

A new PSC member can be nominated at any time. Voting for a new PSC is done by current active PSC members. There is no hard limit to the number of PSC members, but we want a relatively active PSC. PSC nominations are generally given in recognition to very significant contributions to the project. Membership is open to non-technical people, for example if someone is to make huge advances to the documentation or marketing of MapStore, for example.

Nominated PSC members must receive a majority of +1 vote's from the PSC, and no -1's.

PSC Chair is nominated following the same procedures as PSC members.

PSC membership nominations should be notified and collected via the PSC mailing list: mapstore-psc@geosolutionsgroup.com.

Stepping Down

If you find you cannot make meetings for a month or two, or have been unable to vote on proposals, by all means step aside. Thank you so much for your time, if you want to groom a successor and then nominate them that is cool, but the nomination process still applies.

If we do not hear from you for six months, we assume you are unable to attend and a replacement will be appointed.

That is to say, status on PSC is lost if not active at all in a two month period of time. Of course you can come back on to the PSC if you become active again, but a new nomination procedure will be needed.

Bootstrapping

The PSC begins with MapStore "active" founders. First a chair is chosen by the current PSC group of "active" members.

Appoint a chair

Every time a Chair should be elected, a nominee list is collected and presented by the old Chair. The new PSC Chair is nominated following the aforementioned procedures.

A chair is in charge for 1 year, then a new chair need to be elected following the same procedure. The same Chair cannot be nominated more than two consecutive times to allow turnover.

Chair is always responsible to moderate and coordinate PSC activities (e.g. meetings, votes etc.).

Dissolution of PSC

If there are no suitable replacements, the PSC can decide to go down in number to maintain an odd number of participants. If the number of active PSC members drops below 5, however, more people need to be included to reach the minimum limit for a valid PSC.

Process

The primary role of the PSC is to make decisions relating to project management. The following decision making process is used. It is based on the "Proposal-Vote" system.

MapStore Improvement Proposals

A MapStore Improvement Proposals (MIP) is needed for any action that implies large contributions.

The mailing list can be always used to know if a contribution necessarily requires a MIP. The PSC can intervene also for this purpose and, in case of doubts, this is always the preferred way to go.

Snap Decisions

A MIP proposal is NOT needed for proposing small contributions. For example are involved:

  • Small improvements to specific tools or functionalities
  • A bug fix that doesn’t rework anything substantially
  • Documentation improvements or fixes
  • any other contribution that doesn’t rework anything substantially

Responsibilities

Responsibilities of PSC members fall into the following categories:

  • Operations
  • Planning

Operations

Day to day project management. Duties include:

Mailing List Participation

PSC members are expected to be active on both the MapStore User and the MapStore Dev mailing lists, subject to open-source mailing list etiquette of course.

It is a requirement that all PSC members maintain good public visibility with respect to activity and management of the project. This cannot happen without a good frequency of communication.

Note: Our community is subject to both a responsible disclosure policy and a code of conduct; this is the responsibility of all participants and is not limited to the PSC.

Bimonthly Video Meeting Attendance

PSC members are encouraged to attend bimonthly meetings. Of course this is not always possible due to various reasons. If known in advance that a member cannot attend a meeting it is polite to email the PSC's list in response to the meeting reminder. No reason need to be given for not attending the meeting.

Meetings are a chance to quickly discuss project activities, review difficult pull requests and cut down on email.

Planning

Long term project management. Duties include:

Guiding Major Development Efforts

  • PSC members are expected to help guide the major development efforts of the project. This may include deciding which development efforts should receive priority when different efforts are in conflict.

  • The PSC has the right to veto any proposed development efforts.

  • A major development effort which is intended to become part of the core of MapStore can be proposed by any interested party, PSC or non PSC. However, the effort must be approved by the PSC before it can begin.

Project Policies

The PSC is responsible for defining project policies and practices. Examples include:

  • Development Practices:

    • Code Reviews
    • Intellectual Property
    • Documentation Requirements
    • Commit Access
    • Testing Requirements
    • Branch Culture
  • Release Procedures:

    • Frequency
    • Version numbering
    • Stable vs Maintenance vs R&D (Research & Development)

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