Green Maps Abound: Sustainability Through Social Mapping
June 28th, 2008 by Ethan
GBK has been a fan of the Green Map organization, and the org’s founder Wendy Brawer, for some time.
And given my professed adoration — geeky as it may be — for basically all things map, it should come as no surprise that GBK is developing the GBK Green Map.
Coincidentally, I was right in the middle of doing that, when I received an update from Wendy and the gang at Green Map hq about their new, exciting project Open Green Map:
The enthusiasm is building as the Open Green Map project goes into full-scale production. Already a finalist in the NetSquared Challenge and presented at Beyond Broadcasting and Where 2.0 conferences, this inclusive, participatory social mapping website will put thousands of hopeful green sites from around the world on the map! Open Green Map will also share the public’s insights, images and impacts about each of these significant places.
Mixing social networking, familiar Google Map technology and Green Map’s award-winning iconography, Open Green Map will create a common platform for Green Mapmakers, Green Map users, and a global public that is becoming more and more adept at living green. Users of OGM will be able to select the themes they are most interested in, and explore the world from a fresh vantage point. They will also have quick access to the unique ‘traditional’ Green Maps published locally in each city, town or region.
We believe that every community has resources to help individuals build healthier, greener communities together. But up until now, too many people lack the awareness and access they need to find and connect with those resources. Open Green Map will energize the booming green innovation, ‘go local’, regeneration and ecotourism movements with social networking and interactive mapping, empowering widespread participation in critical local environment, climate and equity issues worldwide.
This season, a dozen dedicated staff members and interns in our New York office, alongside Green Map partners around the world, are hard at work (preview at OpenGreenMap.org). In July, we’ll open the site to our network of locally led Green Map projects. We’re targeting September for our public launch – you will be among the first to know the exact date!
Read the full article: Open Green Map on a Roll!
And be one of the first to preview: Open Green Map
Such great great work. My congrats go to Wendy and Green Map.
GBK’s own green map page is just getting started, and it looks like it’s going to be a fun project for sure. Check out the GBK Green Map page and come back later as we add stuff. There is a map that shows geo-tagged GBK posts on a Google Map, and there is the main green map showing green spaces, green bizs, green orgs, etc.
Great fun. As the GBK Green Maps develop, we hope to build in the green map icons and the Open map system. So stay tuned!
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2 Responses to “Green Maps Abound: Sustainability Through Social Mapping”
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June 28th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Green mapping is such an interesting concept! I am excited about it and will share it as a resource for sure.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:33 am
Using web 2.0 will go a long way in encouraging participation at the individual level. We recently started our corporate blog (mahindrauniverse.com) on sustainability and from the response we are getting, I can tell that social networking has a long way to go.