Collab:Southern Islands

This page provides guidelines for editing in the Southern Islands in the extreme south of the world, which have been established as an area for OGF users who want to map Antarctic features. The name "Southern Islands" is intended to be temporary and should be changed when a discussion on the [[Talk:OGF:Southern Islands|talk page]] yields a consensus to do so.

Mapping guidelines

These islands are a collaborative territory with no owner. For users whose accounts are older than 7 days, no permission is needed to edit. To avoid overdevelopment and protect the unique nature of this place, however, all mappers are asked to respect the following guidelines:

• No mapping that you wouldn't see in Antarctica. For example, no trees/forests, no roads bigger than "highway=track," no permanent populations, no resource extraction, no ancient history, etc. Rare exceptions may be possible with community consensus, but nothing should be approved that would seem unrealistic or significantly alter the character of the islands. If you find inappropriate content, feel free to delete it.
• No ownership of any land. No land belongs to any country or any other entity, and the islands should have no administrative divisions of any kind. Like Antarctica on OpenStreetMap, these islands have no international border surrounding them, although there is a 'nature reserve' maritime boundary.
• No more than one outpost per country. In fact, smaller countries should consider sharing a single outpost, as they sometimes do in real life Antarctica. No independent outposts unaffiliated with a country, unless there is consensus for them.
• No outpost should be larger than 1 km². Most of them should probably be much smaller — sizes should be proportionate to the resources and distance of the affiliated country. Look at real Antarctic bases for guidelines.

About the islands

This island chain is about 1800 km in length and located south of the Antarctic Circle, between 67° and 72° south latitude. Lacking the warm currents found elsewhere in the southern hemisphere, it is locked in sea ice during the winter months, but experiences some open (icy) seas during the summer months. The permanent ice mass of Glacies Australis is sometimes connected to the islands and sometimes disconnected. The islands have been used as a base for expeditions onto the ice mass.

Home to no permanent population and not considered part of any country, these islands are administered by the Assembly of Nations Environmental Research and Protection Organisation under the terms of the Treaty of the Far South. The nearest continent is Antarephia, about 1,000 km to the northeast (Ariskania).