Greenapple Maps for Event Planners

During my Tourism class on Monday night, we had a guest speaker by the name of Wendy Brawer. Wendy is the founder of a non-profit organization called Green Map System, creator of the first Green Apple Map, started in 1992. Originally designed to help tourists and new comers to New York City to develop an interest in sustainable living, the organization has grown into so much more. New and different Green Maps are continuously being worked on around the world; from the UK to China. Today there are over 440 towns and villages in more than 50 countries participating in the Green Maps program.

Before the end of this year, Green Maps will take another big step for its company by creating an online Open Green Map site, designed to bridge the "gap between awareness and action." Open Green Maps is using the help of Google Maps to create an interactice experience for people who use the site. Once open to the home page, one is presented with a map of the world with several different icons placed speratically across the continents. The icons belong to the universally used Green Maps Iconography index and represent different categories of all things green; i.e. parks, compost sites, buildings, etc). The user has the ability to turn off any of the icons that they do not want to focus on. Once clicking on an icon, a dialogue box appears with the name and address of the mapped green site. The title of the site is a link that brings up a larger dialogue box that allows the user to view details of the site, gives her an overview of the site, allows the user to leave comments if they have ever visited, and to view any connection occuring with the site, such as events, related links or related green maps. One can also add pictures or videos, and leave comments as to how the site has had an impact on their life since visiting. It is designed to be completely interactive and allow mulitple people, not just the publishers of a map, to collaborate and share their experiences.

Though the focus was not on event planners, or ways to enhance the events industry, in her presentation, Wendy did inform us that a number of event coordinators had created maps in the past. I think Open Green Maps could prove to be a great tool for an event planner. Though I am unsure of what type of maps event coordinators have developed in the past, how great would it be to have a published map of all the green locations to hold a meeting or an event, or even of companies and organizations that planners work with (various vendors) that use green processes. As LEED hotels and meeting centers are becoming more common, I'm sure a map like this would eventually become quite extensive and have a heavy impact on the industry. The fact that Open Green Maps is accessible to anyone in the world with a computer means that information such as what I just described, with green hotels and vendors, would be available to meeting planners all around the world.