Naming Jerusalem on OpenStreetMap

In this chapter, I discuss the politics of toponomy in Jerusalem on OpenStreetMap, a collaborative mapping platform that, despite being ostensibly open to contributions from everyone, offers a surprisingly one-sided representation of Jerusalem. The absence of Palestinian names from the map could be interpreted as an objective reflection of reality ‘on the ground’, or a sign that Palestinian views continue to be excluded and erased. Instead, drawing on my experience working for Grassroots Jerusalem and on an analysis of historical sources, I argue that they point to ongoing confrontations over both the purpose of mapping and the city’s identity. Through its mapping standards, OpenStreetMap intervenes on these confrontations in ways that tend to consolidate the municipality’s naming power, but also to show its limits.