|
| 1 | +--- |
| 2 | +title: Frank Elsinga |
| 3 | +handle: frank |
| 4 | +--- |
| 5 | + |
| 6 | +<div class="text-center mb-5"> |
| 7 | + <img |
| 8 | + src="https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/26258709?v=4" |
| 9 | + width="150" |
| 10 | + class="rounded-circle mt-3" |
| 11 | + /> |
| 12 | + <h3 class="m-3">Frank Elsinga</h3> |
| 13 | + <p>Member of the Governing Board</p> |
| 14 | + <p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankelsinga/">LinkedIn</a> · <a href="https://github.com/CommanderStorm">GitHub</a> · <a href="https://osmus.slack.com/team/U07SNL36BN3">Slack</a> |
| 15 | +</div> |
| 16 | + |
| 17 | +My name is Frank, and I work at the TU Munich, where I focus on geospatial and open-source projects. |
| 18 | +I am at the start of my career and have much to learn. |
| 19 | +While I’m early in my career, I bring fresh energy and a strong commitment to connecting MapLibre with two communities I know well: research and governments. |
| 20 | +I believe these connections can unlock new opportunities for funding, collaboration, and long-term sustainability. |
| 21 | + |
| 22 | +## My Contributions This Year |
| 23 | + |
| 24 | +I have been a maintainer of `maplibre/martin` starting at `v0.15.0`. |
| 25 | + |
| 26 | +Implemented Features |
| 27 | + |
| 28 | +- Developed a [frontend interface](https://github.com/maplibre/martin/releases/taag/v0.18.0) ([demo](https://nav.tum.de/tiles/)) for easier exploration of tiles. |
| 29 | +- Add [ETag Headers](https://github.com/maplibre/martin/releases/tag/v0.17.0) for better caching |
| 30 | +- Integrate [serving MapLibre styles](https://github.com/maplibre/martin/releases/tag/v0.16.0), simplifying deployments and laying the groundwork for deeper integrations |
| 31 | +- [SDF icons](https://github.com/maplibre/martin/releases/taag/v0.15.0) enabling SVG-like rendering of scalable symbols |
| 32 | + |
| 33 | +Maintenance |
| 34 | + |
| 35 | +- Reworked Martin's CI, saving 30% of runtime and sped up contributor feedback cycles |
| 36 | +- Reworked Martin's documentation to make us more approachable for new contributors/users |
| 37 | +- Answered/reviewed issues, discussions, PRs, … ⇒ regular maintainer things |
| 38 | +- Reworked smaller parts of maplibre.org like news or about us to be better fitting |
| 39 | + |
| 40 | +Community engagement: |
| 41 | + |
| 42 | +- Regularly attend TSC meetings to stay aligned with project direction |
| 43 | +- I attended the following conferences this year so far: |
| 44 | + - FOSDEM to become a better OSS maintainer |
| 45 | + - FOSSGIS to get a feel for the geo community |
| 46 | + - FOSS4G Europe to advertise Martin and talk to other developers |
| 47 | + |
| 48 | +## My goals as a board member |
| 49 | + |
| 50 | +### R&D / Funding |
| 51 | + |
| 52 | +- Build a more solid foundation with academia |
| 53 | + - A clear offer statement (⇒ thesis, but also general papers) and |
| 54 | + - in the research-outreach direction |
| 55 | +- Revisit governmental funding. |
| 56 | + There are a few ongoing initiatives in Europe where participating might be interesting and where I think we should at least apply. |
| 57 | + There are other initiatives on route to make governmental OSS contracting less painful, where we should likely contribute as well. |
| 58 | + |
| 59 | +### Making MapLibre a stronger community |
| 60 | + |
| 61 | +- Improve relationships with our integrations. |
| 62 | + Both in our official wording being less dismissive and in small gestures, I want to see some appreciation towards their maintainers. |
| 63 | + I would advocate for supporting maintainers to advertise their work at local (tool-specific) conferences or via special merch. |
| 64 | +- At Open Source @ TUM, I introduced small, dual-purpose “Christmas” gifts for contributions past a semi-arbitrary bar with great effect. Sending a bit of merch and a handwritten card goes a long way. |
| 65 | + Being an international community, we would need to be more diverse in the concrete messaging (Christmas, Hanukkah, …), but the idea should be transferable. |
| 66 | + <details><summary>Mockup (click to expand)</summary> |
| 67 | + |
| 68 | + <img width="50%" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/bab69ba6-fcfc-448b-ae5a-f43a9499bda6" /> |
| 69 | + |
| 70 | + </details> |
| 71 | + |
| 72 | +- Apply more of [“isovalents learnings” around building communities](https://archive.fosdeam.org/2024/schedule/event/fosdem-2024-2776-building-an-open-source-community-one-friend-at-a-time/). |
| 73 | + |
| 74 | +## My goals unrelated to the board |
| 75 | + |
| 76 | +- Rework the roadmap at https://maplibre.org/roadmap to be clearer and more visually appealing |
| 77 | + - Explain what the roadmap is (how items get added, what being on the roadmap eans) |
| 78 | + - Propose a less strict option for non-core projects like martin to have a roadmap, but communicate that this is volunteer-driven |
| 79 | +- Release [Martin v1.0](https://github.com/maplibre/martin/discussions/1805) |
| 80 | +- Make `maplibre-native-rs` production-ready and usable in more than just Martin's context |
| 81 | +- Experiment with bringing cheaper MLT conversion into Martin |
| 82 | +- Help in the MLT pushdown/onboarding effort in the tooling we rely on |
| 83 | +- Help to present Maplibre at FOSDEM, FOSSGIS, IAA and other more local conferences not already covered by @nyurik to gain/keep mind share |
| 84 | + |
| 85 | +### A little more about me |
| 86 | + |
| 87 | +In my spare time, I contribute to open-source projects. |
| 88 | +My journey in the community started with a local student club, [`Open Source @ TUM e.V.`](https://tum.dev), I helped revive it from just one active alumnus into a hub with €5k/year in funding. |
| 89 | + |
| 90 | +As part of this club, I started a [Roomfinder](https://nav.tum.de/navigate?coming_from=5510.02.001&q_from=Chemie&from=chemie&q_to=MW+2001+Rudolf-Diesel-H%C3%B6rsaal&to=5510.02.001&mode=pedestrian) which gradually began to replace the three different legacy Roomfinders our university had accrued at this point. |
| 91 | +Initially built on Mapbox, this choice quickly outgrew our budget, leading to a migration to a self-hosted solution. |
| 92 | +Originally, we migrated to TileServer GL and then used Martin after contributing SDF sprites support. |
| 93 | + |
| 94 | +Work wise, I am employed by the TU Munich as a student assistant to work on our Roomfinder. |
| 95 | +We use MapLibre GL JS and Martin. |
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