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<p><a id="introduction"></a>
  This workshop series brings together experts in
  geographic standards and Web map data services,
  Web mapping client tools and applications,
  and Web platform standards and browser development,
  to explore the potential of maps for the Web.
</p>
<div class="info">
  <p>
    This workshop series was originally planned as an in-person event in Montreal.
    Due to risks associated with global travel and the spread of COVID-19,
    the Maps for the Web workshop in 2020 will be online only,
    spread out over a month of video presentations and asynchronous discussion.
  </p>
  <p>
    We hope that this helps build a community that lasts beyond the scheduled event,
    and that a physical gathering of participants will be possible in the future.
  </p>
</div>

<h2 id="objective">Workshop Objectives</h2>
<p>
  The workshop organizers want to make map viewers on the web better
  — more usable, accessible, secure, private, and performant —
  for website visitors and web app users.
  At the same time, we want to make it easier
  for web developers and other creators to build those map-based experiences.
  And we want to make it more natural
  for cartographers and geospatial researchers
  to share their content over the web.
</p>
<p>
  To do this, we need input from all relevant stakeholders,
  from all over the world wide web,
  who are creating or using web map content and applications,
  along with those who are building or standardizing web browsers.
  From the discussion,
  we hope to build a consensus on
  which aspects of web maps are suitable for standardization,
  and what those standardized solutions should include.
</p>

<h2 id="why-maps">Why Maps for the Web?</h2>
<p>
  Maps are a facet of our daily lives.
  The Web (and other internet-connected applications)
  have made maps more personal and more pervasive.
  From deciding what route to take to work,
  to vacation planning, to researching the effects of climate change,
  online maps guide our decisions and inform our world view.
</p>
<p>
  Maps on the Web have the potential to empower individuals,
  connecting our physical environment
  to online information and applications.
  But that hyperconnectivity comes with risks:
  that people's movements may be tracked,
  or that their lives and livelihoods may become dependent
  on closed, proprietary data and services.
</p>

<h2 id="scope">Scope of the Workshops</h2>
<p>
  The workshop series is specifically about the standardization of dynamic, 
  interactive maps as a first-class native component in the browser or other 
  applications built using the Web platform.
</p>
<p>
  This includes how the map data is served to the web application,
  how it is embedded or manipulated by the website author,
  how the result is displayed to the website visitor by the web browser,
  and how that end user interacts with or makes use of the information in the map.
</p>
<p>
  Broader uses of internet-connected geographic data or spatial metadata
  are only in scope so far as they share technologies and impacts with Web maps.
</p>

<h2 id="topics">Potential Topics</h2>

<p>
  The final <a href="{{ relBase }}/agenda">agenda</a> of talks and workshop sessions
  will be determined based on responses to the
  <a href="{{ relBase }}/call-for-participation">call for participation</a>.
  However, the following areas are of particular interest:
</p>

<ul>
  <li>
    Adding a native map viewer for the Web platform,
    similar to how HTML <code>&lt;video&gt;</code> was added for video content;
    including
    <ul>
      <li>essential, possible, or impractical user-focused
        features and capabilities of a built-in Web map viewer</li>
      <li>architecture for defining a map viewer in markup</li>
      <li>new scripting APIs for Web authors to enhance map viewers</li>
      <li>CSS integration for styling maps and map features</li>
      <li>other integration / relationship of maps with existing browser APIs
        (e.g., geolocation API, geo/map URL protocols,
          image maps, SVG and canvas graphics)
      </li>
      <li>other Web platform applications
        for map-viewer display and interaction patterns</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    Standardizing how a browser-based map viewer
    fetches data from map services
    and how that data should be formatted;
    including
    <ul>
      <li>benefits and limitations of existing map data sources
        for Web use</li>
      <li>working with offline cached map data</li>
      <li>integrating geographic data and (hyper)text annotations
        or other semantic information about spatial things</li>
      <li>working with map data in different projections
        or coordinate reference systems</li>
      <li>federating map services with links between providers</li>
      <li>supporting discovery of Web-based geospatial resources by
        crawlers, indexes, and search engines
      </li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    Creating accessible Web map experiences
    that adapt to the different ways people interact with the Web;
    including
    <ul>
      <li>best-practice interaction patterns
        for manipulating Web (and other interactive/slippy) maps
        using different input methods (mouse, touch, keyboard, etc.)</li>
      <li>communicating spatial information through non-visual technologies</li>
      <li>personalization of map viewer display and capabilities</li>
      <li>using spatial information to enhance accessibility
        in the physical environment</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    Creating truly global Web map experiences
    that work with different languages and cartographic practices;
    including
    <ul>
      <li>linguistic and cultural considerations
        when internationalizing map-viewer interaction patterns</li>
      <li>integrating translations of place names in map data,
        and allowing users to select preferred language</li>
      <li>adapting iconography or other visual cues to local conventions</li>
      <li>working with politically disputed geographic names and boundaries</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    Limiting privacy and security impacts of a more geo-enhanced Web;
    including
    <ul>
      <li>identifying both obvious and indirect ways malicious actors
        could misuse Web maps to expose personal data
        or fingerprintable patterns
      </li>
      <li>
        creating options to support user-friendly functionality
        while limiting exposure of personal location and geographic data
        (e.g., allowing a user to do a one-time location-aware search without
          granting ongoing permission for location tracking;
          sandboxing personalized map views and interactions
          from Web map services providing the underlying data)
      </li>
      <li>communication of the impacts and risks of sharing location data</li>
      <li>validation and verification of map data sources,
        and avoiding misinformation</li>
      <li>cross-origin security risks when integrating map data sources
        (some of which may be personalized,
        or contain confidential business information)
      </li>
    </ul>
  </li>
</ul>

<p>See the <a href="{{ relBase }}/call-for-participation">call for participation</a>
  for how to get involved, or to suggest additional topics.</p>