About us

Les Libres Géographes (LLg, “The Free Geographers”) is a French non-profit, secular and apolitical association, officially constituted in March 2017 by a collective of GIS and software development experts who have been using the principles, tools and practices of the OpenStreetMap (OSM) project, free software and open data movements in a humanitarian and development context since 2010.

LLg conducts its activities by systematically seeking to use, support and strengthen the OSM project, free software and open data communities in developing and least developed countries.

LLg operates primarily in French-speaking countries of the South through local community empowerment programs to build self-sustaining local capacity of communities to interact with local and global geomatics, OSM, open data, and open source software actors.

LLg and its partners always engage in humanitarian or developing areas through ad hoc approaches adapted to poverty contexts and taking into account existing local volunteer dynamics.

The association’s accounts are certified each year by XO Conseil.

Our DNA

OpenStreetMap and open data
  • The members of Les Libres Géographes (LLg) came together through their shared conviction that the OpenStreetMap project has an unparalleled ability to provide the essential geographic data needed for the development of countries in the Global South.
  • Together or separately, LLg members have carried out pioneering initiatives to integrate the humanitarian sector into OpenStreetMap, to systematically map crisis-affected areas using OSM, and to apply OSM in the fields of development aid and scientific research.
  • LLg members have also carried out awareness-raising and communication initiatives to ensure that the specificities of Haitian and African OSM experiences are visible to all: the entire OSM community, communities of practice stemming from the open data and free software movements, as well as humanitarian and development communities. These specific characteristics thus help inform and shape the governance of the OpenStreetMap project, particularly in the policies and practices of its Foundation and local chapters.
Grassroots approach
  • LLg believes in the value and impact of bottom-up collective actions, which can mobilize energy to find the means and methods needed to address structural needs that other approaches have failed to address.
  • In its various activities (training, mapping, empowerment, and geographic data promotion), LLg takes the time to introduce participants and beneficiaries to the technical and ethical challenges within the OSM and open data ecosystem.
  • LLg strives to use simple and robust techniques as much as possible in its initiatives to facilitate their reuse and replication by communities.
Capacity building / skills development
  • LLg adapts its methodologies and training programs to the level of the participants involved and, through multiple iterations, aims to develop focal points of expertise, selected from among those most likely to share their knowledge locally. These are trainers of trainers, rather than isolated individuals.
  • LLg establishes mapping workflows where participants are involved at every stage, so that everyone is able to replicate the process within their own communities. Mappers and field facilitators, not just surveyors.
  • LLg also involves its main partners from the OSM communities in its project engineering activities in their respective countries, as part of the “training of trainers” component within the project itself, to strengthen their local administrative and implementation capacities for future actions. People capable of leading a project in the future, not mere executors.
Community support
  • Beyond empowering individuals through its various activities, Les Libres Géographes aims to promote the growth of active and autonomous local OSM and free software communities, in terms of technology, organization, and governance.
  • LLg thus seeks to systematically integrate a component of community support or empowerment into its activities and projects to amplify their direct impact.
  • Beyond grassroots action, LLg supports the expansion of focal points to broader communities, such as initiatives to support participation in conferences and the facilitation of workshops and presentations.
Free software
  • LLg uses IT solutions based on GNU/Linux and promotes and supports their adoption as part of its activities, thereby enabling older computers to be given a new lease on life.
  • LLg also systematically favors the use of free software solutions when they are mature and offer an alternative to proprietary products. In particular, LLg uses QGIS, JOSM, PostgreSQL/PostGIS, Nextcloud, uMap, and geOrchestra (GeoServer, GeoNetwork and MapStore).
  • Due to the lack of a viable alternative for mobile devices, LLg uses Android-based mobile solutions but prioritizes open-source applications: OsmAnd, OSM Go!, StreetComplete, Organic Maps, OSMTracker, ODK Collect, KoBoCollect, QField, Mergin Maps…
Sharing of Commons / Data and documentation under a free license
  • LLg shares the Free Software Foundation’s view on the importance of a license that requires attribution and a strong copyleft—one that mandates attribution and redistribution of a free product (software, data, or documentation) under the same license—such as the ODbL (Open Database License) and CC-BY-SA licenses.
  • Beyond the data hosted on OpenStreetMap, LLg promotes the release of geographic data by encouraging its partners to adopt the ODbL license (or compatible licenses) and by offering hosting, access, and distribution through its Francophone Free Spatial Data Infrastructure (IFL) based on geOrchestra.
  • LLg also distributes all of its technical and organizational documentation under the CC-BY-SA free license.

Operational capabilities

Vector Geomatics Expertise

LLg’s expertise focuses primarily on vector geographic data, although the association has also conducted work on high-resolution satellite imagery, which it hosts in the IFL, its Spatial Data Infrastructure.

Deployment in bare-metal/minimal environments

Whenever safety conditions permit, LLg prioritizes low-cost local reception and accommodation solutions, both for ethical reasons and to ensure that these solutions can be replicated locally outside the context of the project.

Experience across various fields

LLg’s senior experts have experience conducting mapping and/or training activities in more than 30 countries around the world, including Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, South America, and Asia.

Ability to coordinate remotely in nearly 20 countries

Since 2016, LLg has demonstrated its ability to carry out remote initiatives in Africa and Haiti by partnering with members of local OSM collectives.
The initiatives implemented in this context may include field mapping, training and technical support, as well as informational or awareness-raising workshops.

Multilingualism

LLg can operate in French, English, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and even Haitian Creole.

Project Management

For all funded projects, LLG handles grant writing, logistical planning, and operational and administrative management, while meeting all reporting requirements (technical, financial, and results-based management).