# Introduction

There's two possible blockers for open data in public sector:

* policy challenges when making geospatial information available in the open
* technical difficulties when transferring data between formats. 

Mapbox Cities is a mentorship program for cities ready to tackle hard urban problems with data-driven decision making.

With this document we're making the case for local geospatial open data fitting perfectly into [OpenStreetMap](https://www.openstreetmap.org/about), the free global geo database.

Read on to see how [local governments around the globe generate value from OpenStreetMap](/open-data-openstreetmap/case-studies.md) and how the [OpenStreetMap community of volunteers operates](/open-data-openstreetmap/details-openstreetmap.md). Learn about the [technicalities of GIS, OSM, and tools to use free OSM data](/open-data-openstreetmap/technical-specifications/technical-specifications.md) and [legal and policy](/open-data-openstreetmap/legal-information.md) intricacies to watch out for.

## Not sure this is for you?

[Get started with the Executive Summary 👉](/open-data-openstreetmap/executive-summary.md)

![](/files/-LSYokREgKGIk01Jib9Z)


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