Introducing the Open Green Map
About the Open Green Map | Get involved! | Accomplishments | Video
Open Green Map in the News | Credits and acknowledgments | Support us!
For all people ready to participate in creating a healthy, sustainable and just world, Green Map System offers a direct pathway to the significant ecological, cultural and civic resources near home through our locally published and interactive maps, our globally recognized icons and mapmaking tools, and communications network linking Mapmakers in more than 50 countries.
Green Map System has promoted inclusive participation in sustainable community development around the world since 1995, using mapmaking as our medium. Over 500 locally-led map projects have successfully published more than 360 Green Maps, used by millions to connect with green living, nature, social and cultural resources near home and while traveling. Each unique map utilizes Green Map® Icons to highlight both positive and challenging sites. Learn more about Green Map System and about our iconography, the heart of the Green Map movement!
Now, we're taking our inclusiveness mission to the next level by developing the Open Green Map, an interactive mapmaking tool that helps people worldwide quickly share their own selection of sustainability sites, pathways and resources online. Merging local knowledge and our freshly updated iconography with Google Map and open source Drupal technology, the resulting interactive maps can be explored here today. Much more is in the works, and even before its spring 2009 public launch, this web platform invites the public to add their own comments, green ratings, images and videos and share how each site on the map has changed their life with an innovative 'Impact Index'. With this social mapping website, people of all ages and backgrounds can get involved!
The Open Green Map:
- Allows instant easy publishing, updating and expansion of Green Map projects.
- Invites the public to explore a world of green sites, and then enrich them by adding insights, connections, and multimedia elements in any language.
- Encourages to the public to suggest sites to their local Green Mapmakers and soon, to add new sites directly to Open Green Map's world view map.
- Eliminates costly design and production while encouraging essential community participation.
- Provides an interactive base for all green site data worldwide.
- Contains special features that encourage users to customize their view according to the icons of greatest personal interest, a flagging system to help monitor the quality of public content, and soon, will offer enhanced widgets so you can embed Open Green Maps on your own website, and much, much more that you can preview here.
We invite you to explore your choice of Open Green Maps today and return often as this website progresses toward the 'official' launch.
Accomplishments
As of December 1, 2008, there are 36 different Open Green Maps with 2,350 sites to explore, comment on, and rate. 12 countries are represented to date. Behind the scenes, dozens more maps are in progress.
In October, the Green Map network reached the 500 project milestone! Download our Citylist here.
OGM was a finalist in the Tele Atlas Maps in Apps competition in September 2008, winning $10,000, valuable map data and a convention showcase.
OGM became a 2008 Netsquared Mashup Challenge - Featured Project.
OGM was presented at conferences including Where 2.0 (Bay Area US), Seoul Design Olympiad (South Korea), the Community University Expo (Victoria Canada) and EcoCity World Summit (San Francisco US) conferences, and featured in articles linked below.
Phase 1 was completed on July 31 2008, and all registered Green Mapmakers could begin making Open Green Maps!
Work on this website commenced in Spring 2008, following 6 months of strategic development and planning.
Support Green Map System & the Open Green Map!
We're doing all we can to help hundreds of communities worldwide - won't you help us? Find the different ways to help strengthen our initiatives by funding, promoting the project and sharing your skills to help build OGM. View the list of OGM Sponsors - we'd love to see your name on that list!
Get Involved!
Green Map projects are direct, democratic communication, dependent on local knowledge and action. Mapmaking teams work together with the commitment, networks, skills and spirit it takes to initiate and complete a challenging project with important social and environmental impacts. You are invited to become the leader of your community's Green Map team and make a major contribution to your hometown’s healthier, more sustainable future, with the help of our award-winning iconography, collaboratively created tools and network.
Currently, you need to be a registered Green Mapmaker to create an Open Green Map. Click here to learn more, or get general information in the FAQ.
Open Green Map in the News!
“...since it is interactive, the locals who really know their home can give the inside scoop – it’ll be like being with the green in-crowd wherever you are…I’m really excited about this because my most favorite cities to visit – and even my own town – will suddenly have a whole slew of new secrets revealed, and a little bit of that guilt over traveling can be reduced.” EcoGeek.org
“This online map program is fabulous and I'm inspired. What a cool way to get connected and see what's green around the country.” Planet Pink n' Green
Review more quotes about the Open Green Map and Green Map System in the Testimonials page or read the full articles in our News section.
Download our Press Release and take a look to the Open Green Map's Design Preview here.
Introductory Video - a 5 minute overview
Credits and Acknowledgments
The Open Green Map development team includes: Thomas Turnbull, Miikka Lammela, Carlos Martinez, Gottfried Haider, Wendy Brawer, Bob Zuber, Andrew Sass, Yoko Ishibashi, Akiko Rokube, Yelena Zolotorevskaya, Yang Sun, Lee Frankel-Goldwater, Ciprian Samoila, Amol Patwardhan, Dru Hara, Maddy Goldfarb, Kathryn Podobinski, Risa Ishikawa, Courtney Wolf and Beth Ferguson.
Many thanks to all the Green Mapmakers who have taken part in the development process to date: Anna Krusic, Janet Felsten, Hannah Clinch, Kevin McDonagh, Therese Kristiansson, Mike Trevett, Nicolas Masson, Charles Burnett, Patrick Hayes, Misako Yomosa, Lake Sagaris, Magda Moral, Jerrad Pierce, Peter van de Loo, Elanto Wijoyono, Jacqueline Rose, Leo de Mello, Max Goldstein, Ryan Meher, Olivier Lomel. Isabelle Duvivier, Maeve Lydon, Masahiro Horiuchi, David Kupfer, Jason White, Calin Colacel, Ruxandra Solare and Susanna Iraci.
And special thanks to our Board of Directors, too: Sara Tucker, Joshua Arnow, Alice Hartley, Andrew van der Laan and Carter Craft (and past board members DK Holland and Jaimie Cloud).
Thanks to Stan Weichers, Eric Goldhagen and the Drupal community, Micheal Silberman, Sarah Haga, Honey Berk, Brian Hamlin, Mikel Maron, Andrew Cross and several mashup artists and social networkers who have advised us along the way!
Thank you for using OGM and contributing to this online community!
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