Green Map’s tools, including the Platform, have a clear mission: to help people quickly and easily collaborate to create Green Maps that support community-led action on climate change.
Our vision
We want people to use our mapping tools to change their world. By creating a Green Map, communities can:
- Work collaboratively to locate, categorise and share green resources such as recycling points, community gardens, green energy sites, biodiversity spots, bike routes and social enterprises using the Green Map icons
- Involve a diverse range of people in the process of developing a Green Map by setting up a map making team and using features like the survey tool to crowdsource data from your community
- Learn digital map making skills, create new icons and exchange ideas about what sustainable development means to your community through making a Green Map
- Contribute to our global Green Map and be inspired the wonderful world created by our Green Map making community
Our values
We create map-making tools that are affordable, accessible, ethical, and easy to use
Commercially available mapping platforms can be complicated and expensive to use. Although there are free mapping solutions, not all provide community map makers with all the features they need to share community generated data, which can sometimes be sensitive and always unique.
There are also ethical concerns about the dominance of global mapping platforms and the exploitation of data for commercial use.
The Green Map platform is built on Open Street Map and is managed in alignment with Open source principles. The platform has been co-designed with community map makers to enable them to collect and share mapping data on their terms simply and effectively. Data is not exploited for commercial gain. Community generated data on the Green Map Platform belongs to the community.
Our tools are built to facilitate grassroots knowledge exchange and climate literacy
Making a Green Map means coming together as a community to gather and share knowledge about a local area across a wide range of topics that affect your quality of life and the planet; from busy towns and urban centers, to remote coastal villages and rural settings.
By making a map using the Green Map Platform and icons, people with diverse perspectives talk through local environmental and social challenges such as the quality of green spaces, the state of biodiversity, the location of bike stands and bike routes, places at risk from flooding and pollution. These conversations are where the magic happens. People making Green Maps are empowered through sharing local knowledge and adding it to a map using the platform.
We co-design new features, resources and adaptations to our tools with our user community
The Green Map Platform is not a static resource but one that is constantly being refined based on the needs of our user community. From grassroots activities, to educators and public sector changemakers, we are committed to adapting our tools to respond to their needs. We are open to developing collaborations, providing training and adapting our tools to support Green Map making in all communities.
We are ambassadors for our global Green Map making community
When you sign up as a user of the Green Map Platform you become part of a global map making community. This community is diverse, creative, vibrant and positive. They inspire us to create the Green Map Platform and we are committed to sharing their stories and insights with a wider community of people committed to climate justice.
