Project Description:
With a network of locally-led Green Map projects charting sustainability assets and challenges in 50 countries, our organization began developing a social mapping platform in late 2007. Merging Google Map, web 2.0 open technology, local knowledge and universal Green Map Icons, our aim was to lower technical and financial barriers to interactive mapmaking and to create the means for the public to contribute to the profile about each site. The Open Green Map was opened to local Green Map teams in summer '08, and as they began populating the platform with local nature, culture and green living sites, they tested usability and contributed to OGM’s overall design and toolkit.

Project Goal:
Green Map System wanted to: • Attract a diversity of people to use these interactive and crowd-sourced Green Maps. Today, OGM’s traffic is surpassing GreenMap.org’s, thus doubling our organization’s web audience. OGM’s interface is already in 5 languages (and more to come). • Give the public the ability to express themselves and add their own insights, images and impact assessments about each site on the map. Over 1500 people have registered and are contributing videos, PDFs, ratings, too. • Enable any Green Mapmaker to create Open Green Maps. Today more than 100 maps can be explored in 21 countries, and another 100 are in progress. A growing number are from the Global South. • Generate attention and action. OGM has been recognized by international media and 6 social design, tech and innovation competitions so far, including NetSquared and the Index Awards. • Provide desktop and mobile users a locative innovation with social benefit now, we aim to co-create mashups, on-site markers, user defined widgets and more. • Now, it’s very low cost for the Mapmakers to use OGM to create and share their Green Maps. Ideally, we will soon be using this platform to provide a funding stream that sustains our non-profit and the means of generating support for the local map teams, too.

What Tools Did You Use:
Blogs, Facebook, Flickr, RSS, Twitter

What Happened?:

We celebrated Open Green Map’s launch in 13 cities in June 2009 with 40 maps and 4,000 sites populating the platform. Now, 9 months later, we’ve more than doubled those numbers. Currently, about 250 new sites are being added weekly to benefit a steadily growing global audience. We recently released the beta mobile website and version 1.0 of the Green Map iPhone App to make OGM’s data accessible on the move, and planning for more mashups, datasharing, youth mapping and more. We were glad that we re-built GreenMap.org as a content-managed registration-presentation-tool center first, as OGM precipitated a surge in growth that could have overwhelmed our small staff. The number of registered Green Map projects grew 35% faster in 2009 than in any previous year. 

Lessons Learned:

Secure multi-year funding upfront and provide for sponsorships, partnerships and earned income sooner. Anticipate changes in technology and document more carefully while building.

URLs:

http://GreenMap.org (our splash and the mobile url)

http://OpenGreenMap.org/home (direct to OGM)

http://GreenMap.org/app (our first App)

http://GreenMap.org/ogm-launch (about OGM's launch)

http://GreenMap.org/greenhouse/en/news/press/pr (press releases, backgrounder, award list)

http://GreenMap.org/join (find out about starting a Green Map for your community)