The Project
Public Map is a one stop shop for trustworthy, accessible open source data. It gives communities the information that they need to drive change in their area. Public Map is supporting the development of a new generation of community scientists, map makers with the digital skills and data literacy to build granular maps about the things we need to know about to drive sustainability and social justice.
It’s a familiar tale: communities across the UK facing economic and social decline. Empty shops, shattered windows, a fading sense of pride, and neighbours who feel more like strangers.
What’s Gone Wrong?
We have planning systems that are meant to help us create places that improve life. But they aren't doing the job...
Data that informs planning decisions is obscured, biased, incomplete and inaccessible.
Current planning systems are informed by obscured data, shielded behind paywalls or shaped by private interests. Incomplete and controlled, this data fails to capture the true essence and social value of our increasingly diverse communities. Projects of all sizes pivot on this distorted data, misguiding planning decisions that shape our places.
Public voices aren't being heard
Public consultation on these decisions occurs through platforms that often only manage to engage a narrow demographic; just 1% of the population, and notably exclude the voices of younger generations. A system that neglects the perspectives of a broad spectrum of community members means even the most well-meaning initiatives can miss the mark, failing to improve the quality of life for those directly affected.
Resources are being wasted and local leaders aren't trusted
As a result, already scarce resources are wasted, opportunities are lost, trust between the affected public and local authority diminishes and the gap between the intent of this system and the actual benefit widens.
Our Approach
Access to trustworthy data should be a human right. Planning is too important to be left to planners. Our aim is to make sure that decision makers, organisations and communities have easy access to the map-based information that they need to make good decisions about their places. We support communities of all ages to create detailed and accurate multimedia data maps of the things that they care about in their area. These maps can be overlaid onto existing published data maps to provide a deep understanding of what is needed in a place. It's not just about data – it is about the stories and conversations that happen on the way, building trust, connection and wellbeing as a starting point for action.
Social
Our maps capture quantifiable multimedia data on social value – where people connect with one another, where they connect with nature, where they exercise, the places that inspire them, the places that are affordable, the places that they care for as well as the things that they would like to see changed.
Cultural
Weaving stories, music and song our team of bards have been working with children and young people to create multimedia cultural maps of their places. The arts and humanities have a vital role in encouraging deep engagement with place, building on local heritage to inspire the next generation.
Environmental
A network of community scientists has been created to gather data for environmental layers, focusing on issues like air quality, biodiversity, and water quality. We’ve been scraping existing environmental data from online databases while also running citizen science projects in collaboration with schools.
Census and Administrative
Existing data sets are being gathered and examined to create a rich, multi-dimensional picture of our pilot location, including economic insights. We’re also finding innovative ways to spatialise non-spatial data—transforming information not originally designed for maps into something that can be visualised and understood geographically. By collaborating with local authorities, we’re helping shape how data is collected so it can meaningfully contribute to this project.
Our map will be a sandwich of data layers, existing published data layers (for example the census) combined with maps made with communities. The aim here will be to make layers of complex information simple and accessible to as wide a community as possible.
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