Green Maps are an educational and environmental communication tool for advocacy and public awareness first created for New York City by eco-designer Wendy Brawer of Modern World Design in 1992 as seen at the Green Apple Map website. The global Green Map System was formed as a result of the response to this first Green Map. Since 1995, Green Mapmaking has grown steadily around the world. The nonprofit’s first mapping platform debuted in 2009 and has over 41,000 locally charted sites at opengreenmap.org. OGM2, their second platform, is in beta in 2020 at new.opengreenmap.org. The Green Map archive at
New York Public Library Map Room includes 600 printed Green Map editions, copies of all the Green Map books and booklets, along with 300 locally made education and outreach resources made by city agencies, non profits, youth and community groups. Green Map’s office in New York City is the resource development, outreach and support center for the movement. Various regions have formed local support networks to help community-led Green Map projects develop and share their outcomes, supported by Green Map System. A 2002 ‘Summit’ at Bellagio, was a catalyst for hubs that formed in Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, Europe; an ongoing example is the national Cuban Green Map network. The website GreenMap.org is the gathering point for both the makers and the users of Green Maps. GreenMap.org went online in 1995 and it was re-launched in May 2007, with a resource center for Mapmakers all over the world to communicate and exchange their Green Map making experience. This
content management system was named the Greenhouse, symbolizing its ability to cultivate and present a “garden of Green Maps”. GreenMap.org was relaunched as a story-sharing website when the organization shifted to a Creative Commons 4.0 license in 2018, now all the resources are available at no cost under a
Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license with reciprocity from commercial projects. Although Green Map System authorizes local mapmakers to use its Green Map icons and tools, every project is independent and locally led. Grassroots and established non-profits, universities and schools, governmental and tourism agencies use the globally designed icons and adaptable methodologies to develop and publish their own community's Green Map in a way that meets the needs of residents and visitors. For example, university-community collaborative projects have taken place for twenty years at
University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, delving into perspectives ranging from First Nations, LGBTQ, and
early childhood education. == Awards received ==