Network Governance
Community is key to the success of the Hivemapper Network.
Last updated
Community is key to the success of the Hivemapper Network.
Last updated
Billions of people will someday rely on the map infrastructure and data of the Hivemapper Network. These outputs should be public goods, managed by and for the community who built it. Although decentralized, an organized body with a clear mandate is required to govern and facilitate network operations. By transferring many key governance responsibilities to a foundation and open-sourcing the underlying technology, the Hivemapper Network will be best equipped to serve humanity.
The Hivemapper Foundation is a Cayman Foundation Company Limited by Guarantee formed in 2022 and based in the Cayman Islands. The Hivemapper Foundation is responsible for the proliferation of the Hivemapper Network and ongoing network token economics and issuance. Over time, the foundation will take on many of the responsibilities currently held by employees of Hivemapper Inc., such as maintaining the decentralized mapping network and its underlying mapping technology. No executives from Hivemapper Inc. can hold positions in the Hivemapper Foundation at the same time.
Below is the anticipated structure and core responsibilities of the Hivemapper Foundation. Please contact info@hivemapperfoundation.org with questions.
Mission
To proliferate a fresh global map as a public good for humanity.
Structure
The foundation is a Cayman Foundation Company Limited by Guarantee. It will have three initial committees: Technical, Map Quality, and Economic.
Responsibilities
(1) Support ongoing map collection, quality assurance, and annotation activities.
(2) Establish a transparent process for making updates to the underlying protocol and formulas, as described below in the Map Improvement Proposals section.
(3) Manage and maintain the open technologies supporting the network.
Partnerships
The foundation will work with hardware manufacturers to create compatible Open Dashcam devices and establish a certification process for approving new hardware devices. As established by MIP-9, the foundation will also fund grant programs for analysts who improve public-facing data resources.
The Hivemapper Network uses a mechanism of governance called Map Improvement Proposals (also known as MIPs). Similar to the idea of BIPs from the Bitcoin community, MIPs will be used to introduce and approve or deny major changes to the Hivemapper Network. Changes introduced through MIPs may pertain to the network structure, governance, or token economics of HONEY.
MIPs currently take the form of notice-and-comment rulemaking. First, an initial proposal is published on the Hivemapper Foundation blog. Next, community input occurs on various social platforms, such as Discord. To complete the process, the proposal is either finalized, modified, or abandoned. In the longer term, we expect to implement more robust governance mechanisms that may include voting.
Anyone with an idea for a MIP is encouraged to propose and vet ideas with the Hivemapper community via Discord. This is a good way to see if there is support for the idea and if it’s been discussed before.
Discord is the primary communication channel for our community of contributors. The Discord is moderated by both Hivemapper Inc. staff and community moderators.
The Discord community is a place where you can connect with other contributors in real time, ask questions, and get the latest updates about the Hivemapper Network. Discord is also the best way to get support for any issues you may face while contributing.
We recommend that every Hivemapper contributor or prospective contributor join the community.
