I’m always drawn to how technology is being used to help make the world a better place — free or low-cost software for nonprofits, mobile apps for microdonations, etc. But both online and offline, I’m particularly drawn to maps. And now with all the various online maps (Google, Bing), if someone has skills, he or she can create a custom mapping application for just about anything.

Here at City Fruit we have our own fruit map, built in partnership with some University of Washington iSchool students. It allows anyone to input a fruit tree location and identify the variety & size of the tree. So far we have over 650 trees! And we know of a lot more. Feel free to get in there and map any fruit trees you know of.

In addition, here are a few of my favorite food-related maps:

• If you’ve been following Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign, you’ll notice their Food Environment Atlas that helsp show where you can find healthy food in your local communities.
• Local Harvest has a similar map — but I think it’s a bit more user-friendly.
• In addition, the city of Lisbon is in the process of creating satellite maps of their urban agriculture space.
• And organizations like Fallen Fruit are helping map publicly accessible fruit all over the world.