Mapping (and visiting!) all of Toronto’s library branches

Last August, I wrote about breaking free from the Apple and Google maps duopoly, listing a handful of alternative apps then emerging. My favorite to use these past eight months is PamPam, co-founded by Helena Jaramillo and Carlo Joerges. Their goal is to allow everyone to make custom maps “without coding or clunky tech.” A shorthand way to describe what they’ve built is “FigJam on top of Google Maps”: PamPam allows you to adorn maps with stickers, highlights, drawings, and photographs, either alone or in collaboration with others. It’s fun and fluid, two great characteristics for software, and, as the cofounder of my own two-person startup, I’ve appreciated learning from Helena as she promotes the product and responds to my questions and requests.

To that end, I’ve been trying to think of a use case that would allow me to create a map, share it with others, and sing its praises here. A month or so ago I landed on one: mapping the progress I’m making toward my goal of visiting all one hundred Toronto Public Library branches with my kids. The effort is inspired by artist and urban geographer Daniel Rotszain, who made drawings of all the branches and published the results as a coloring book.

As of April 1, 2024, we’ve visited sixteen branches, so whenever you come across this post you’ll see whether we’re making progress. Here’s what our map looks like now. You can zoom & move around:

The PamPam team just launched a new feature that allows you to copy maps made “public.” So if you’re in Toronto and interested in doing this wild sprint, it’s easy to get started. Follow this link to see and copy the map.

This is a long, contrived way to say that I’m enjoying PamPam and encourage you to give it a try.