Map Your World
young mappers support and learn from each other, with a focus on climate-vulnerable populations.
The digital age loves maps, but not everywhere in the world is represented equally. Digital survey application tool Map Your World is changing that, by putting children in charge of change. Inspired by their own 2007 documentary ‘Revolutionary Optimists’, US filmmakers Nicole Newnham and Maren Grainger-Monsen created the multimedia storytelling project so that young people could collect data and give their neighbourhoods a voice. The Sundance award-winning film followed children in India who, discovering their Kolkata slum didn’t exist on Google Maps, took surveys of the inhabitants. With the help of local ex-lawyer Amlan Ganguly’s NGO Prayasam, and arming themselves with the title ‘Dakabuko’ – which means ‘the courage of a daredevil’ – they hand-drew maps and collected information digitally, using mobile survey and GPS mapping technology to make sure every single person was represented.