We are happy to announce that an important Guide to Making Green Maps has been translated into simplified Chinese!

Created in Europe by the 4BsHive, this colorful guide highlights 4 different ways to create Green Maps. With the help of wonderful mapmakers at the China Mangrove Conservation Network and our staff members Hui Zhou and Aaron Reiss, this fantastic resource is now available to our growing community of local Green Mapmakers in China, and to the public.

Download in Chinese as a compressed 2MB PDF or as a full scale, zipped 19MB PDF here. read more »

This is the Nansha Tan Village Resources Survey Summary Report

南沙坦头村资源调查总结报告
11红树林 罗燕莉（栗子）
周六的坦头村自然体验与资源调查，一开始因为担心天气状况等原因，没有提前做好充分的准备；跟小孩沟通不足，最后也只带去了3个12级的红人。幸好当天没有下雨，为按照原计划开展活动提供了方便。而因为小孩人数比较少，不便进行太多的自然讲解，我们把这次的重点放在了调研上。
上一次去坦头村还是一年前，感觉会有点不同。我们更加关注一路上的风景，在慢慢行走的过程中关心自己的所见所闻，在比较安静的状态下，观察和思考这一趟看到和听到的一些东西。不知道这一趟是否有开阔孩子们的视野，但对于我来说是增长了一些见识。read more »

Faire défiler le texte vers le bas pour accéder à la traduction Française

Hi!

I am Olivier Hoessly, I just graduated from American University in Washington DC and I am helping Green Map System as an intern, for few months! I have studied in the United States for about two years but I grew up in the south of France between Nice and Monaco.

Today I come to you with exciting news! In my attempt to reach out to France I have been focusing a lot on social media in order to attract potential new Mapmakers. And the good news is that the French Press Release I prepared is published today on a French environmental blog and we want you to check it out!read more »

In 2010 we made a very popular Green Map for a major park in Baltimore, the Druid Hill Park Green Map. So many people admired it, but never went to the park that I was determined to make an activity-oriented passport to encourage full exploration of the park's resources. Last summer I used the Kickstarter crowd-sourced funding platform to raise the major chunk of money needed. And just 2 weeks ago, on April 19, we launched the Passport at a party that also kicked off Baltimore's 10th Annual Green Week.

The major themes of Nature, History, Exercise and Culture delineate activities in four distinct regions of the park. The icons and location on the map are referenced on each page , and colorful icon sticker "stamps" match each activity. We also emphasized volunteer opportunities and are using the stickers as a way to draw people inside the Conservatory, now celebrating its 125th anniversary. Another way we will know it is successful is if we attract more people to join the park's "Friends of..." advocacy organization.read more »

Green Map System is taking part in two important events that aim to increase the positive value of travel.

The First International Jerusalem Symposium on Green and Accessible Pilgrimage brings 600 delegates from all religions and cities that host pilgrimages together on April 21-24, 2013. Hosted by the Green Pilgrimage Network Ambassador, Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Naomi Tsur, who stated, “The idea is at once both grand and simple, since while there is nothing new in pilgrimage, the idea of a global pilgrim partnership is an entirely new concept, which sets goals for urban sustainability and economic growth on the one hand, and for interfaith dialogue on the other.” read more »

Residents and visitors to the city of Pierre, South Dakota now have a way to find "green." The online Pierre Green Map shows the local resources and assets that help make Pierre a green and sustainable community.

The map shows sites related to sustainable living, nature, and culture and community. Mapmaker Anne Lewis says the purpose of the map is to promote what sustainability assets and resources Pierre has. "We want to build upon what we already have," says Anne Lewis. "We want to support people who already offer sustainable resources as well as involve people who would like to start by literally showing them where."read more »

(En español abajo)

In 1998 Green Map presented at a Cuban conference and the Mapa Verde Cuba network began an amazing journey. National television has just helped to mark the 15th anniversary with this short video showing the spread of the network!

We invite you to view Gotica y Gotica, the award-winning video created by Mapa Verde Cuba to share their methods and outcomes (part 1, 2, 3, total 25 minutes). Mapa Verde Cuba also took part in our Bellagio Summit, and in CUExpo 2008 in Victoria BC.read more »

2012 was a busy year for the Cape Town Green Map. Through it all we managed to produce our 4th Edition Print Map, with the support of the City of Cape Town's Waste Management Department.

See our Media release below,

The 4th print edition of the Cape Town Green Map is now available, with a focus on green by design in line with Cape Town being awarded the World Design Capital in 2014.

Waste and recycling is another key focus. The front cover of the map features three children disposing of litter in a Zibi Bin. The fourth edition highlights some of the City’s initiatives aimed at waste minimization, encouraging citizens to reduce, reuse, and recycle. The map features tips from Zibi, the city’s mascot for waste and recycling. read more »

Thanks to Hui Zhou, for this Chinese and English (below) update on two exciting mapping initiatives.

随着可持续发展理念在中国的不断深入，绿地图作为一种通过推广环境，生态，人文等多方面可持续发展的绘图工具也在被越来越多的中国民间环保组织认识，开发，并融入到自己的环保项目中。这一期博客着重讲述了三个中国环保组织与绿地图的故事。

上海绿洲生态保护交流中心于2012年夏天开始了它们的绿地图之旅。目前，该组织已经完成了科技馆湿地绿地图、西沙公园绿地图、滨江森林公园绿地图，

还有岑卜绿地图，而最特别的陆家嘴金融城慢生活绿地图还在制作中。直接参与到绿地图绘制的志愿者已经超过了300人，这些人有的是孩子、有的是企业员工，还有一部分是学生、社会志愿者。中心将创意融入到绿地图绘制中，将环保概念用更加生动形象的方式呈现在公众面前。比如说，起始于今年6月的西沙湿地绿地图巧妙地将螃蟹与绿地图结合，绘制出了《蟹泪洒湿地》的绿地图。中心现在正在期待陆家嘴慢生活绿地图的新鲜出炉，此地图意在呈现常人眼中金融中心快节奏生活的另一面，让大家从另一个角度了解上海。想了解更多关于上海绿洲的信息，请访问：oasiseco.org

read more »

Many have asked how we fared in the midst of Hurricane Sandy. We have been quite lucky. The floodwaters stopped just a few blocks from our office, sparing this lovely old building from damage. Nevertheless, both the office and my apartment lost power for the entire workweek. With my trusty bicycle, I found places to work outside the dark zone, and found ways to pitch in on the relief efforts (including riding supplies out to a hardhit area with Time’s Up).

We decided to add the high water mark to our map of energy resources – view it at OpenGreenMap.org/nycenergy (you can even embed it in your own website or blog). It's stunning to see how and where the water rose and as you probably know, Sandy's become a broad call to action for a more resilient approach to planning for climate change. We're surveying Green Mapmakers now and hope to share effective mapping resources shortly.

As noted in our Post-Sandy newsletter, on Sunday Dec 2nd, we held the Adapting to Change Cycling Tour. Riders explored resilient solutions that reduce energy consumption and increase climate awareness. Speakers included JK Canepa of CARP, Dan Miner of Beyond Oil NYC and David Bergman of EcoOptimist. This ride built upon our ’10 Days of Climate Action’ prize-winning Green Culture Cycling Tour, and its resulting map. It includes sites from our Energy edition - you can download the 2006 version of this map under Info on the right sidebar, too.

Our December tour's press coverage includes a Bowery Boogie report by Lorie Greenberg & David Bergman on this ride and a Play and Ideas blog post by Benjamin Heim Shepard for this terrific report on the ride. Peter Shapiro's video featuring David Bergman's talk is below.

We've continued the conversation with different participants as we have found this builds momentum for action and synergizes our ability to foment social change:read more »

"Food: An Atlas" a crowd-sourced, crowd-funded cartography project led by UC Berkeley professor Darin Jensen is looking to bring the Compost Green Map of Manhattan to a new, global audience!

"Food: An Atlas" is a collection of food related maps. It will feature Green Map System's Compost Map alongside maps about America's beershed and the global almond trade, as noted in this Atlantic article. Green Maps's newest project associate, Aaron Reiss, was excited to help adapt the map's layout for publication in this book - as a food and map enthusiast himself, Aaron spent much of his time at Yale mapping hidden food gems in New Haven.read more »

At Green Map System, join us as we are starting down a new road....

Since 1995, Green Map has been a participatory initiative. We have co-created icons, engagement tools and mapmaking infrastructure utilized by hundreds of mapmakers in 65 countries. Open Green Map, our interactive platform, provides an intuitive resource with every site open to public commentary. Now, we are taking the next step to truly “going open”. Please take the journey with us, and support us as we open our data and much more to support a sustainable future. read more »

On October 2, 2012, we moved 6 very full, well organized boxes containing hundreds of Green Maps and related materials contributed by Green Mapmakers from around the world to the New York Public Library's wonderful Map Room. There, each of the resources will be properly archived and available to the public, researchers, journalists, and other interested professionals as reference materials in perpetuity. We are delighted to have this collection delivered. We planned the launch, but then, Hurricane Sandy intervened. Impacts on the regional transit system lingered on, impacting staff at the NYPL, therefore our:read more »

Led by Imagine Durban, a council-led community based project on integrated, long-term planning and sustainable development, the eThekwini Green Map “will involve all citizens in building and enjoying a more sustainable city” says Bongumusa Zondo, Senior Manager of Imagine Durban. read more »

We are going to have a riding activity on 22th September--the car free day.On this day ,we will ride bike around Zheng Ru and share our green maps of Zheng Ru to all the residence along the route.Here is our post of the riding .

After visiting and much preparation,we finally started to draw our green map. On 18th August,we got together in the community center and disscussed in groups on how to draw the map.We were divied into three groups and each group was resposible for a map.One map was about the cultural sites in Zheng Ru,another is about the natural sites and the third one is about the diposal procedure of garbage.At the end of the day,each group did a great work on the map.Have a look at our map now!

On 21th and 28th July,our volunteers visited each site all over Zheng Ru.We walked into each commnunity and talked with the residence.Although the weather is really hot,we strived to visit every corner of the ancient towm.In this visit,we all learnt more about it and we toot a lot of beautiful pictures.

On 14th july,a trainer from Being Jing gave us a training about what is green map and how to make a greenmap.Voluntees disscussed together about the meanings of icons in green map warmly.After that we made a practice on the knowlege learned on the training. We visit a small area and drawn a green map of it!

Green Map System’s director, Wendy Brawer, will soon be in Helsinki Finland, working next week with the wonderful leaders behind Helsinki Green Map at the Open Knowledge Festival. Helsinki's outstanding array of interactive maps and their website GreenMap.fi.

Here are the Open Knowledge Festival Sustainability Stream Outcomes

Here is a Good Map Summit Report with photos and more photos of the day (which was also Helsinki's Autonomy Day). read more »

Johannesburg - the City of Gold - is hoping to give itself a green spring cleaning this week as it launches its very own city wide Green Map for the first time. Like all Green Maps it features the world renowned icons that are associated with the global Green Map project and is visually similar to the Cape Town Green Map so as to keep a consistent style going across the country.

Content wise, the Joburg Green Map is focused on issues which affect the city and has a comprehensive listing of sites associated specifically with recycling, parks and fresh food. It also has its own community of green events and bloggers which are contributing fresh thinking to the topic of the environment in the city. read more »