Memory Mapper: Exploring Commercial Models for Digital Spatial Humanities Research Infrastructure
Lead Research Organisation:
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
Department Name: Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis
Abstract
This research project is intended to explore commercial models for offering Memory Mapper, an open-source web-based mapping tool for documenting places and their histories created by researchers at the Bartlett Faculty for the Built Environment, University College London, as a service to researchers and teachers in the universities sector and professionals in the Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAM) sector. Memory Mapper was developed on the basis of work conducted as part of the Survey of London Whitechapel Initiative (https://surveyoflondon.org/), an innovative web-based public history project which used interactive mapping and crowdsourcing techniques to engage members of the public in the creation of collectively-produced historical accounts of the history of the built environment in
Whitechapel. Subsequent funding from UCL and from the EPSRC has resulted in a number of follow-on maps using the software, most prominently the Memory Map of the Jewish East End (https://jewisheastendmemorymap.org) and City of Women London (https://cityofwomenlondon.org/).
Through these projects and through the fostering of a community of independent Memory Mapper projects in the Higher Education, GLAM and Community sectors, we have evidence that there is a market appetite for the tool. Through a combination of in-depth market research, user testing with current Memory Map users, participatory action research workshops and semi-structured interviews, this project will provide the specification for a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for the next iteration of Memory Mapper, and will establish the empirical basis on which further funding can be sought.
Whitechapel. Subsequent funding from UCL and from the EPSRC has resulted in a number of follow-on maps using the software, most prominently the Memory Map of the Jewish East End (https://jewisheastendmemorymap.org) and City of Women London (https://cityofwomenlondon.org/).
Through these projects and through the fostering of a community of independent Memory Mapper projects in the Higher Education, GLAM and Community sectors, we have evidence that there is a market appetite for the tool. Through a combination of in-depth market research, user testing with current Memory Map users, participatory action research workshops and semi-structured interviews, this project will provide the specification for a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for the next iteration of Memory Mapper, and will establish the empirical basis on which further funding can be sought.
Publications
Dewfield, S
(2024)
Memory Mapper: Business Models and User Personas Consultancy Report
Hay D
(2024)
Memory Mapper: Routes to Commercialisation
| Description | This project investigated how Memory Mapper, software created at University College London for creating interactive maps for history and heritage, could be offered to universities, the Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums (GLAM) sector, and the voluntary sector on a commercial or income-generating basis. The project commissioned an external service evaluation consultant, Sabina Dewfield, to conduct a programme of qualitative research with existing and prospective user groups and to commission a YouGov survey based on the results. At the start of this project, we had a viable proof of concept; what was needed was to gather empirical evidence to establish which sectors to target most intensively; to establish a strategy for commercialisation (including scoping ethical, legal and technical issues which may arise at different stages); and to use these findings to create a development roadmap for the software. We have been successful in all of these aims, and our detailed findings can be found in the white paper, 'Memory Mapper: Routes to Commercialisation'. Our key findings are that the most valued aspects of Memory Mapper are its simplicity, and that it fosters collaboration between different people and groups. The simplicity of Memory Mapper allows people without the time or inclination to learn complicated software to produce attractive, interactive web-based outputs from their research. The software therefore fills a gap between Geographic Information Systems and simpler tools such as Google Maps. It takes the skills and knowledge of multiple people to create Memory Maps, and the process of documenting a place in this way can be understood as a form of what we have come to term 'communal sensemaking'. These two aspects inform the development roadmap for the Minimum Viable Product (MVP), which divides proposed activity into four work packages: • 'From maps to projects': allows users to create multiple maps related to a single research project • 'Map authoring': focuses on improving the map creation interface • 'Collaboration': extends the user model to allow multiple people to work together • 'Map linkage': create links between and across map projects to extend the research value of the tool. We are now seeking further funding through UKRI to fund the development of the MVP. In addition, we have established a series of strategic partnerships which will enable development to continue whilst we seek major investment. These include, at UCL, new maps created with the Institute of Education, the School of European Literatures, Cultures and Societies, the department of History, and the Bartlett Faculty for the Built Environment. Externally, we have established new partnerships with the Open University and the EU-funded 'Pelagios' project, and the Black British Public History Workshop. The software is now being trialed by the Soho Society, a local history and advocacy group; Passe Porta, a Brussels-based literary house and commissioning organisation; and the Cleaver Square History Society. We continue to build on existing partnerships with Newham Council, Lancaster University, Manchester Metropolitan University, and the University of South Wales. |
| Exploitation Route | The next stage of development for Memory Mapper will result in it being offered on a Software-as-a-Service basis, allowing us to serve the needs of many more users. In providing an easy-to-use platform for conducting collaborative spatial humanities research, we anticipate that this will be of benefit to the universities sector and beyond. In addition, the white paper offers a contribution to the question of how to sustain software outputs created through research projects. Drawing on research into best practice in the sector, we demonstrate how digital outputs are best conceived of as infrastructure, and therefore require continued maintenance and resources to remain viable. We argue that in relatively mature technological spaces (such as web GIS), one way of funding this infrastructure is to develop (Research) Software-as-a-Service offerings which can serve the needs of a range of projects, with the hoped-for effects of reducing duplication of effort, increasing the longevity of digital outputs, and widening access to digital methods in a range of disciplines. We hope that this intervention prompts thinking along similar lines in other areas. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Creative Economy Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Education Leisure Activities including Sports Recreation and Tourism Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
| Description | This award has led to societal impact beyond academia through identifying and working with a number of new partners in the voluntary and cultural sectors. Most significantly, we are currently on a new collaboration with the Camspsbourne Community Collective, a voluntary organisation based in Muswell Hill, North London, in partnership with Prof. Elton Barker and Dr Jude Fransman from the Open University. The group will use Memory Mapper to document the history of the Campsbourne Estate, identifying significant people and places which have contributed to the development of the area. As part of this, we will use the content uploaded by the group to identify the key entities which would form the basis of a Linked Open Data ontology for describing contemporary, community-generated cultural heritage data of this type. The ambition here is to explore how multiple memory map projects can be linked through a common metadata standard, allowing individual maps to contribute to a broader knowledge commons whilst maintaining a distinct identity and ownership of their work. Our intention here is that, through developing the software along these lines, community organisations such as the Campsbourne Community Collective can benefit from the 'communal sensemaking' and advocacy functions that creating heritage maps can foster, and at the same time contribute to a growing corpus of spatially-situated, community-led local historical research. Moreover, through this work we will explore ways in which the revised version of Memory Mapper could be aligned with the ecosystem of tools using Linked Open Data for cultural heritage that form the international academic research network Pelagios, embedding the software within the wider field of expertise in this area. In addition to this new partnership, through this project we have brokered new relationships with the Black British Public History Network, and have supported the creation of new maps by Passe Porte, a literature organisation based in Brussels, and the Soho Society, a local history and residents advocacy forum based in central London. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2024 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education |
| Impact Types | Cultural Societal |
| Description | Campsbourne Community Collective collaboration with the Open University |
| Organisation | Open University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The Memory Mapper team is providing a map instance and support to the Campsbourne Community Collective as part of an ongoing collaboration between the group and the Open University investigating questions of local historical knowledge and community cohesion. We will be working with the community to create a heritage map of their local area, and investigating through this work how to align Memory Mapper so that it contributes to the ecosystem of Linked Open Data tools for cultural heritage spearheaded by the Pelagios network, led by Prof. Elton Barker. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Open University are facilitating the relationship between the community group and Memory Mapper, and have paid for consultancy work to be conducted into semi-automated Linked Open Data metadata generation which would be of use to both Memory Mapper and the broader Pelagios community. |
| Impact | First communty workshop held at Campsbourne Estate Kurdish Advice Centre on 28/2/2025. Thiis is a multidisciplinary collaboration involving History/Classics, Digital Humanities, Computer Science, Sociology of Education, and Creative Arts Practice |
| Start Year | 2025 |
| Title | Memory Mapper - web map authoring interface |
| Description | This is a prototype version of a new map authoring tool for Memory Mapper. |
| Type Of Technology | Webtool/Application |
| Year Produced | 2025 |
| Open Source License? | Yes |
| Impact | This revised authoring interface is the first step in revising Memory Mapper so that it can be offered to a significantly wider audience. Work on this is ongoing. |
| URL | https://github.com/memorymapper/memorymapper-editor |
| Description | Memory Mapper - User Consultancy Workshop - Community |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | 20 people attended a user engagement workshop led by the Memory Mapper to explore how it might be used in their work and to develop user personas for the software from their discussions. In addition to informing the development of Memory Mapper, this has led to the Soho Society exploring the use of the tool for their ongoing heritage audit. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Memory Mapper - User Consultancy Workshop - Museums Professionals |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | c. 10 participants from the Science Museum-led project 'Congruence Engine' took part in an online workshop and series of interviews conducted by our user research consultant. The findings from these discussions will inform the future development of Memory Mapper, and as a through contacts made through the workshop the tool has been used by undergraduate students at the University of Leeds to create a heritage trail as part of their studies. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |