This October, the Sharing Cities Network will launch the Second Annual Global #MapJam to bring activists together in cities around the world to connect the dots and map: grassroots sharing projects, cooperatives, community resources, and the commons.

Mapping all of the shared resources in your city not only shows that another world is possible – it shows it’s already here! Asset maps are powerful organizing tools. They make community assets more visible – creating a base for further community development, leading to new collaborations and illuminating openings for new project ideas to fill in the gaps.

They also get a lot of traffic. Depending on the size of your city, your map could easily get thousands of visits in just a few months after creating it.

Scheduled to correlate with New Economy Week, the Map Jam will launch on Indigenous People’s Day and continue for 2 weeks from Monday, October 13 to Sunday, October 27.

Global #MapJam Day will take place on October 16, featuring a 24-hour mapping ‘round the world across multiple continents and time zones.

The second annual asset mapping event will build upon the tremendous success of last year's campaign when 500 mappers partied together in 60 cities and made 50 maps in just two weeks launching the Sharing Cities Network in the process.

Groups in many cities have already begun to step up and are planning to host #MapJams in Barcelona, Frankfurt, Hartford, Louisville, Nairobi and Rochester just to name a few and many groups from last year will be coming back together. Who knew that mapping could be so much fun?

Interested in organizing a #MapJam in your community? Or attending one? Sign up here to get involved.

MapJams are easy to organize and a small, dedicated group of people can get together for a few hours to map as many shared resources, cooperatives and sharing services in their city or town as possible. Like a musical jam, it should be fun, social, and jammers should find a groove as they work. Join the Sharing Cities Network Facebook group to get the latest updates and meet other "map jammers."

Originally published by Shareable

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