The Grassroots Mapping Forum
Read about cutting edge techniques in hacking environmental science in our "Grassroots Mapping Forum", our community research journal/archive/zine/map, where we share ideas, techniques, and stories from the Public Lab community.
The Grassroots Mapping Forum is printed on a 22.75x35" sheet of acid-free paper, and includes a full color reproduction of a grassroots map along with essays, illustrated guides, and interviews. It's a great way to stay abreast of the latest in the DIY environmental science movement.
cover image by Chris Eichler during Occupy Wall Street May Day 2012
Links provided to online versions of most articles.
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Issue #7 The 5 Year Anniversary Issue (May 2015)
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Download the PDF »
Public Lab Five Year Retrospective by Shannon Dosemagen
How to Get Involved with Public Lab illustrated by Molly Danielsson
A History of Crediting Hardware Contributions by Mathew Lippincott
Coder Crisis: Attracting Software Developers to Public Lab by Justin Manley, Bryan Bonvallet, Jeff Warren, and Molly Danielsson
Issue #6 The Waste Issue (Q3 2014)
Issue 6 explores trash in all its many forms.
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Download the centerfold featuring an activity for estimating the volume of your local landfill
- A full color map or the Trans-Load America Pondview Waste Facility.
- Touch, Collect, Display, Order, Mesasure, Map, Inflate, and Build with Waste! by (Pablo Rey Mazón, Basurama)
- Mapping Waste When Waste is Invisible (Max Liboiron)
- Detritivore Design (Mathew Lippincott)
- Connecting with our Landfills (Nicholas Johnson)
- Estimating the Volume and Weight of Waste (Holden Sparacino)
- Saugus Ash Landfill, MA (Pablo Rey Mazón)
- 3D Modelling Waste Piles with SFM (Pat Coyle)
Issue #5 The International Issue (Q2 2014)

Issue 5 is focused on highlighting the Public Lab community around the world. It's also our first edition printed in color.
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Download a PDF copy of the Map of Silwan
- Full color map of Silwan, Jerusalem created through participatory mapping with children from Silwan.
- La Valld'Uixó cover by Basurama (Pablo Rey Mazón and Rubén Lorenzo) using MapKnitter.
- Thoughts on Better Tools for Mapping from Hagit Keysar in Jerusalem.
- Interview with Pablo Rey Mazón, developer at montera34.com and waste researcher with Basurama by Shannon Dosemagen
- Exploring Science Beyond Exams in Hong Kong by Fan Lok-yi
- Mapping along the Rio Hondo River in Belize by Pat Coyle
- Tools for Stalling Eviction by María del Carmen Lamadrid.
Issue #4 (fall 2013)
Issue 4 is focused on long term research in the New York City chapter.
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- Full color maps featuring sewage overflows in the Gowanus Canal and oyster reef restoration in the Bronx River
- Tracking recreated wetlands in Jamaica Bay with Gena Wirth and the Dredge Collective
- Jamaica Bay cover illustration by Gena Wirth
- Interview with founding board member and New York City research lead Eymund Diegel by Shannon Dosemagen
- Two-tether mapping method by Natasia Sidharta
- GLAM Mission by Hans Hesselein
- Five Borough Farm by Philip Silva and Liz Barry
- and much more!
Issue #3 (spring 2013)
Issue 3 is an in depth look at community organizing in the Public Lab community.
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- A full color, wall-ready map of downtown Oakland and of UC Davis during the Occupy protests with notes from the cartographer and mappers
- An interview with citizen scientist organizer Cindy Regalado (Shannon Dosemagen)
- Protest Mapping (Oscar Brett)
- Organizing Public Lab (Shannon Dosemagen)
- Open Sourcing Jerusalem? (Hagit Keysar)
- Barnstars! (Liz Barry)
- Civic and Citizen Science: the Cocodrie Barnraising heats up (dialog from the Public Lab 2012 Barnraising)
Issue #2 (summer 2012)
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- A full color wall-ready map of the Chandeleur Islands with notes from the ground and bios of the mappers.
- UAS Ethics: A dialogue on Unpiloted Aerial System (drone) ethics between privacy lawyers, drone developers, and balloon-loving grassroots mappers. (ed. Mathew Lippincott, including Amie Stepanovich and Coby Leuschke)
- DIY Near-Infrared Imaging (Chris Fastie and Jeff Warren)
- An interview with Scott Eustis of the Gulf Restoration Network (Shannon Dosemagen)
- Quick, fun activities you can do to get involved in Grassroots Mapping!
Issue #1 (summer 2011)
Sold out!
- A full color wall-ready map of an island in Barataria Bay showing oil spilled from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
- An interview with Gulf Coast resident Barbara Marcotte (Shannon Dosemagen
- Details on how to get started balloon or kite mapping (Jeff Warren)
- Reimagining the data lifecycle by Shannon Dosemagen and Jeff Warren
Pre-press version (not the final edition which went to press): gmf-1-prepress-small.pdf
Get involved
Learn about and get involved in writing, editing, publishing, promoting, and distributing the forum on the forum planning page.
Using Content from Grassroots Mapping Forum
The Forum is a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike licensed document. If you'd like to use content from it, go ahead! Mathew can provide high-res artwork and original files if those are helpful to you, just send an e-mail to mathew@publiclab.org.
