Hello to Green Map friends!
As 2024 reaches the Winter Solstice, we’re all seeking the light. We know it will be brighter ahead. We also know our work with community mapping is more important than ever, as it helps to ground people to home places and together, reach our full potential in this age of change. Thank you for all you do for our world, and for your support.
This year, Green Map System accomplished several goals that support our expanding roster of Green Mapmakers, near and far. We’re always taking cues from their experience and trends.
Noticing that most Green Map projects have switched over to digital mapmaking, we worked to release a new, more versatile mapping Platform with our wonderful partners at the GISCollective and Tacit Design.
Under Explore at GreenMap.org, you can see both locally-made maps and public suggestion surveys that make Green Map a much-appreciated resource for community organizers, schools and sustainability proponents. Explore includes a page for icon sets - we added a new set of Local Food icons this year, and yes, now mapmakers can provide their own iconographies!
As a result, more unique outcomes - The Rush Initiative's contest for mapping rain gardens, Telluride Institute's project recording water quality testing, the Coalfields Regeneration Trust's guides supporting Local Place Plans, the Harbor School's Climate Week exploration, just to name a few - there is even a digital archive for Green Map projects being tested out on the Platform (you’ll see it in 2025).
Our Platform, icons and tools are free for non-commercial use so everyone can benefit. We’ve also added subscriptions and service offerings for projects that want us to create custom apps, trainings, help with importing data or exporting a print map, etc - this, together with your donations, is vital to our nonprofit!
This Fall, our terrific new website builder debuted. It is a boon to under-resourced Green Map projects and a major plus for those who want to engage more participation. The splendid Grow Dundee website, created with our bespoke service, is the first to include events! We’ll be sharing more of these websites soon.
People are still making print maps, too. Arriving today for the Green Map Archive, the Japanese and English excursion guides for the international Disaster Preparedness in Nursing conference, created by Yohei Yasuda, November 2024.
Let's accomplish more in the season ahead. Join our next Open Office Hour on Jan 15th, or reach out to us anytime. And please pitch in!
All the best for the Solstice from Wendy and all at Green Map!
