# Interacting with the community

### Get to know the local contributors

A vital first step is to understand and get to know local OpenStreetMap contributors. These questions should help guide your initial research:

* Is there an official [local chapter](http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Foundation/Local_Chapters#Active_local_chapters) or a group of enthusiastic individuals?
* Does the local community meet in person (such as at meetups, State of the Map conferences etc.)
* What are their mapping priorities and focus?
* How active are they on the communication channels below?

To improve your research, here's where to find out more:

#### Where to search for information

Every group with a common hobby has its preferred channels for collaboration and discussion. It's important to use the right channel to reach the community.

📧 Common channels include:

* [Mailing list](https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo)
* [OpenStreetMap Forum](http://forum.openstreetmap.org/)
* [IRC](http://irc.openstreetmap.org/)
* Facebook pages & Twitter handles
* Slack channels
* Messaging apps like Telegram, WeChat, etc.

## First contact with mappers

#### Considerations

Local mappers are in most cases individual volunteers. They have full-time jobs but are passionate about mapping certain features of OpenStreetMap - not necessarily the same features you may be interested in.

These volunteers often spend their evenings and weekends mapping, so won’t be able to attend a daytime meeting during Cityhall office hours.

If there’s no official local chapter in your region, we recommend to find power mappers in your region to contact first: [The neis-one project](http://resultmaps.neis-one.org/oooc) allows you to filter on the most active users locally.

## Attending local meetings

Once you’ve made first contact with engaged mappers, meet them in person at one of **their** regular events.

Meetings often take place in form of [meetups](https://www.meetup.com). Next to local OSM meetings, popular local mapping events are:

* [www.maptime.io](http://maptime.io)
* [www.missingmaps.org](http://www.missingmaps.org/)
* [SotM (State of the Map) events](https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/State_Of_The_Map)
