Please note: this article is written with a focus on changes to countries and regions within the EU only. MIP-2 also creates changes in other countries and regions outside of the EU but these are not reported here. Please refer to the official MIP-2 article for that.
Map Improvement Proposal-2, or MIP-2, was published by Hivemapper Foundation on March 10, with the aim of improving incentives for contributors. But what does this mean for us?
Why was MIP-2 introduced?
In the announcement of MIP-2 they write that due to some issues with how region boundaries and region weights influence the incentive structure at this early stage of the project, the HONEY tokens were being minted far too slowly. Therefore, the Hivemapper Foundation is implementing some changes in certain regions.
Currently, MIP-2 is in the process of being implemented. On Hivemapper Explorer, region deactivations, region activations, and boundary changes are already visible. Beginning on March 22, a new region weight formula will retroactively apply to the current reward cycle of March 13-19.
How will they increase rewards?
In the final plan, the Hivemapper Foundation will distribute HONEY across multiple regions within a targeted area in a different way than it has done in the past. Instead of allowing early adopters in only one part of the country or metropolitan area to claim the entire bounty, this will encourage broader coverage across the entire country or metropolitan area.
Each targeted area will now have multiple bounties that add up to 10M HONEY tokens. The areas within the EU that are positively affected are The Netherlands, Portugal, the city of Paris and the city of Madrid. The country bounties for The Netherlands and Portugal will offer an increase from 1x to 2x on base Map Coverage rewards — the same as Paris and Madrid's metropolitan area bounties — ensuring that map contributors receive three times as much Map Coverage reward as they would without a bounty.
The image below explains the new bounty design in simple terms.
How did they come up with these new areas and regions?
In preparation for MIP-2 the Hivemapper Foundation has done extensive research to find the best way to implement the new region boundaries. For countries within the EU, they will use Europe's NUTS (“Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics”) system. What is the NUTS system you ask?
The Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, or NUTS, is a hierarchical system that divides European countries into regions for statistical purposes. The system was created to provide a standard way of collecting and reporting regional data across the European Union.
At its highest level, NUTS divides each country into major regions, such as states or provinces. These major regions are then subdivided into smaller regions, and those smaller regions are further divided into local administrative areas. The NUTS system has three levels: NUTS3, NUTS2 and NUTS1.
For defining regions in the EU the Hivemapper Foundation has decided to use NUTS3 as a starting point. This decision was made because the administrators of NUTS have already taken the time to standardize their regions by population size. This is a crucial proxy for economic activity and thus the value of map data.
So, which regions get the bounties?
Here's a list of how bounties are applied to the newly created regions:
The Netherlands Bounty
The 10M HONEY bounty for the Netherlands will be split by proportion of road km over the 40 NUTS3 regions of the country:
- East Groningen (Oost-Groningen)
- Delfzijl and surroundings (Delfzijl en omgeving)
- Rest of Groningen (Overig Groningen)
- North Friesland (Noord-Friesland)
- Southwest Friesland (Zuidwest-Friesland)
- Southeast Friesland (Zuidoost-Friesland)
- North Drenthe (Noord-Drenthe)
- Southeast Drenthe (Zuidoost-Drenthe)
- Southwest Drenthe (Zuidwest-Drenthe)
- North Overijssel (Noord-Overijssel)
- Southwest Overijssel (Zuidwest-Overijssel)
- Twente (Twente)
- Veluwe (Veluwe)
- Southwest Gelderland (Zuidwest-Gelderland)
- Achterhoek (Achterhoek)
- Arnhem/Nijmegen (Arnhem/Nijmegen)
- Flevoland (Flevoland)
- Utrecht (Utrecht)
- Head of North Holland (Kop van Noord-Holland)
- Alkmaar and surroundings (Alkmaar en omgeving)
- IJmond (IJmond)
- Haarlem (Agglomeratie Haarlem)
- Zaanstreek (Zaanstreek)
- Greater Amsterdam (Groot-Amsterdam)
- Het Gooi and Vechtstreek (Het Gooi en Vechtstreek)
- Leiden and Bollenstreek (Agglomeratie Leiden en Bollenstreek)
- The Hague (Agglomeratie ‘s-Gravenhage)
- Delft and Westland (Delft en Westland)
- East South Holland (Oost-Zuid-Holland)
- Greater Rijnmond (Groot-Rijnmond)
- Southeast South Holland (Zuidoost-Zuid-Holland)
- Zeelandic Flanders (Zeeuwsch-Vlaanderen)
- Rest of Zeeland (Overig Zeeland)
- West North Brabant (West-Noord-Brabant)
- Middle North Brabant (Midden-Noord-Brabant)
- Northeast North Brabant (Noordoost-Noord-Brabant)
- Southeast North Brabant (Zuidoost-Noord-Brabant)
- North Limburg (Noord-Limburg)
- Middle Limburg (Midden-Limburg)
- South Limburg (Zuid-Limburg)
Madrid Bounty
The 10M HONEY bounty for Madrid will only be in the single NUTS3 region called Madrid.
Paris Bounty
The 10M HONEY bounty for Paris will be split by proportion of road km over the 8 NUTS3 regions of the Île-de-France NUTS1 area:
- Paris
- Seine-et-Marne
- Yvelines
- Essonne
- Hauts-de-Seine
- Seine-Saint-Denis
- Val-de-Marne
- Val-d’Oise
Portugal Bounty
The 10M HONEY bounty for Portugal will be split by proportion of road km over the 25 NUTS3 regions of the country:
Upper Minho (Alto Minho)
- Cávado (Cávado)
- Ave (Ave)
- Porto Metropolitan Area (Área Metropolitana do Porto)
- Upper Tâmega (Alto Tâmega)
- Beira Baixa (Beira Baixa)
- Douro (Douro)
- Beiras and Serra da Estrela (Beiras e Serra da Estrela)
- Algarve (Algarve)
- Oeste (Oeste)
- Aveiro Region (Região de Aveiro)
- Coimbra Region (Região de Coimbra)
- Leiria Region (Região de Leiria)
- Tagus Floodplain (Lezíria do Tejo)
- Middle Tagus (Médio Tejo)
- Tâmega and Sousa (Tâmega e Sousa)
- Lands of Trás-os-Montes (Terras de Trás-os-Montes)
- Lisbon Metropolitan Area (Área Metropolitana de Lisboa)
- Coastal Alentejo (Alentejo Litoral)
- Lower Alentejo (Baixo Alentejo)
- Viseu Dão-Lafões (Viseu Dão-Lafões)
- Upper Alentejo (Alto Alentejo)
- Central Alentejo (Alentejo Central)
- Azores (Região Autónoma dos Açores)
- Madeira (Região Autónoma da Madeira)
TL;DR: Hivemapper Foundation has published Map Improvement Proposal-2 (MIP-2) to improve incentives for contributors by implementing changes in certain regions. The plan will distribute HONEY tokens across multiple regions within a targeted area to encourage broader coverage across the entire country or metropolitan area. This will increase the base Map Coverage rewards for The Netherlands, Portugal, the city of Paris and the city of Madrid, ensuring that map contributors receive three times as much reward as they would without a bounty.
For a more in-depth explanation of the increased rewards pool and how this positively affects the newly defined regions, please read the full post from the Hivemapper Foundation on MIP-2 here.