German municipalities are beginning to discover the potential of map-based citizen participation - sometimes, but not always using OpenStreetMap. However those projects remain in a very narrow focus: they either exclusively focus on problem reporting, on citizen input for specific planning processes, on citizen input about their general ideas and needs or on citizen information. These are all sensible use cases – but a holistic approach is rarely pursued.

Yet from a municipal perspective, map-based participation, this should matter: Because if a map offers added value from the citizen's point of view, it becomes a lively place - where people come together with their thoughts, their data and their potential for participation. Administrations (and municipal companies) can make use of this: for contact with the population, for recording needs and ideas, for planning, for the joint development of new services and even operating models or for impact measurement.

With these map-based projects, a well-known smart city problem is becoming apparent: several similar projects are being developed in parallel, which are implemented in different technical ways. Technical compatibility with related applications is not taken into account. Neither APIs nor common standards are being developed. There is no focus on the necessary common infrastructure.

At Agora Digitale Transformation, a German non-profit think tank, we are currently working with local authorities and civil society organizations on a vision of such a "city map of the future". In June, we will publish a vision paper that lays out the concrete policy steps for this to become reality. With the SotM EU audience, we want to a) share our findings and experiences, b) discuss the EU-implications of such policy efforts and c) discuss how the OSM community could partake in this policy work.