Mapping Commons

[Mapping Commons]

Building a public-facing mapping tutorials, examples, and workflows using NYC Open Data.

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Theoretical

Grounding

Mapping is not just a technical activity but a broader way of organizing and communicating knowledge across disciplines.

Visual

Literacy

Maps communicate through visual choices that shape how information is understood.

Accessible

Entry

For many beginners, mapping tools are difficult to approach because they assume prior knowledge of spatial data and GIS concepts.

How Maps Speak:

A Mapping Commons Hackathon

How Maps Speak is a collaborative virtual hackathon focused on building Mapping Commons, an open educational resource for public mapping. Rather than centering on a single technical product, this event brings together participants from different disciplines to co-create beginner-friendly tutorials, annotated examples, and community-oriented workflows that show how maps help people understand places, data, and communities.

Date: Tuesday, March 24, 2026
Time: 10:00 AM–12:00 PM
Location: Virtual

Register Here

What Participants Will Create

This hackathon is a collaborative design process. Participants will work together to think through what Mapping Commons should be, what problems it should address, and what kinds of resources would make mapping more accessible to broader publics.

Possible contributions may include draft tutorials, annotated examples, community-facing workflows, and reflections on accessibility and interpretation. Just as importantly, the session will help define the emerging structure of the project itself, shaping the categories, formats, and guiding principles that will organize the toolkit moving forward.

Who Should Participate

This hackathon welcomes an interdisciplinary group of participants, including:

  • students, educators and researchers
  • community organizers and advocates
  • data visualization practitioners
  • Mapping Experts and Mapping enthusiasts!

No advanced technical, coding, or GIS experience is required. Experience thinking about how maps communicate with non-expert or community audiences is especially welcome.

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