About Map Garden
Who we are and why we made this.
What is Map Garden?
Map Garden is an experiment in internet community. Like a big shared canvas, but the canvas is the globe. It is our attempt to see what happens when you give people a shared globe and some simple creative tools. It encourages you to share the places you care about and build community in the real world. Happy planting!
Why we made it
The idea for Map Garden came about because of the difficulty of finding local community organizations. Commercial maps (like Google or Apple Maps) show businesses. We wanted a map that would show communities. As we developed Map Garden we realized that it could be used as both a way to find community, and a way to share your creativity.
Who we are
Map Garden is the brainchild of three friends located across the United States.
We are two former Google developers and a non-profit event planner and fundraiser,
and we have a shared goal of encouraging people to explore mutual aid and community-building.
We are a small team that cares about open data, accessibility, and helping
local organizations reach the people they serve. The project is open source on GitHub.
The Map Garden team has many plans and even more ideas for Map Garden...
...We look forward to bringing you more news soon!
Robbie Gleichman
Andy Brown
Stephanie Chamberlain
What is Mutual Aid?
Mutual aid is a voluntary, reciprocal exchange of resources and services among community members
to meet immediate needs. This is distinct from charity, where you give or contribute funds or
materials to a non-profit, community organization, or individual. While both come from a sense
of altruism and empathy, mutual aid focuses on neighbors helping neighbors, filling gaps where
government or social services are unable to provide support. Mutual aid is a relatively new idea and movement.
To illustrate: an act of charity would be donating the funds or materials to an organization who
will help a community neighbor build a new fence. An act of mutual aid would be to learn a community
member--or local stranger--needs a new fence and you help them build that fence.
There is overlap--you can volunteer with the organization building the fence, or even work for them.
But wonderful things happen when we can have charity and mutual aid benefiting our communities and ourselves.
Tell your friends
Map Garden grows when more people add the places they know. If you find it useful, please share it with friends, neighbors, and any local organizations who might benefit.
Credits & Open Source Licenses
Map Garden is built on the work of many open source projects and data providers. Thank you to:
- Map tiles © MapTiler — Data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
- Place search by Stadia Maps.
- Icons by Heroicons (MIT, © Tailwind Labs).
- UI by daisyUI (MIT) and Tailwind CSS.
- Built with Phoenix, MapLibre GL JS, and React.