MapRVA Bylaws

Section 1

The name of this organization shall be MapRVA.

The objectives of MapRVA are to advocate for the development, sharing, visualization, and cartography of open data that lends context to the built and natural environments of the greater metropolitan area of Richmond, Virginia.

MapRVA has thrived on a very loose organizational structure. There are no elected positions, no dues, and no legal status. Instead the organization reaches decisions through discussion, allowing evolution based on the interests and initiatives of members (defined in Section 2.1).

MapRVA wishes to maintain an informal and welcoming atmosphere. Our core values include openness and inclusion, encouraging curiosity, good faith communication, mutual support and respect, honesty, independent agency, and the drive to help each other grow and succeed. Initiatives should be not just focused on cartography, but on any distillation of the world around us into something that tells a story or reveals an otherwise unseen truth. Meetings and communications should remain open to anyone, and MapRVA’s mission should be defined by passion projects rather than board members.

Section 2: Membership

Section 2.1: Membership

Members of MapRVA are those who have agreed to the OpenStreetMap US Code of Conduct (“CoC”) and declared themselves a member of MapRVA in one of the designated fora as outlined in Section 4.1. The term of a Member shall be from January 1 to December 31 of a given year, whereupon the Member shall again agree to the CoC and affirm their membership of MapRVA. Members may re-affirm their membership and adherence to the CoC for the next calendar year beginning December 1 of the current calendar year.

Section 2.2: Resignation

A Member may resign their membership by announcement in a designated forum. If no date of resignation is declared by the Member, their resignation is effective immediately.

Section 2.3: Termination

Membership may be terminated following the finding of a breach of the CoC as determined by an ad hoc committee of three randomly-selected Members formed for evaluation of the breach and its adherence to the core values outlined in Section 1.

Section 3: Board of Directors

MapRVA shall have no Board of Directors. A Board of Directors may be instituted with an amendment to the Bylaws as outlined in Section 5.

Section 4: Meetings

Meetings shall consist of organized in-person or virtual sessions (“Meetups”), as well as ad hoc communication within those fora designated in Section 4.1.

Section 4.1: Designated fora

The list of designated fora may be altered through a vote of greater than 50% of the Membership.

The designated fora are:

• OpenStreetMap US #local-rva channel
• OpenStreetMap US #maprva channel

Section 5: Amendment of bylaws

Any and all provisions of these Bylaws may be altered or repealed and new bylaws may be adopted by a simple majority of votes at any Meetup called for that purpose with greater than 50% of the Membership. Meetups called for the purpose of amending or repealing the bylaws must be advertised two weeks in advance in all designated fora and social media channels, and allow virtual attendance.