2026 ALISE Annual Conference

Community mapping, a collaborative cartographic practice grounded in local knowledge, has emerged as a documented mechanism for advancing social justice, though its roots in both mapping communities and mapping with communities predate its current visibility. This study analyzes three cases in Syracuse, New York, each representing a distinct model of community mapping deployed in service of social justice goals. The cases leverage digital tools and spatial data infrastructures not merely as technical apparatus, but as sites where knowledge is contested, co-produced, and made actionable by communities themselves.