Quakerism is a shrinking faith group. Both a cause and consequence of this shrinkage is the fact that it can be quite hard to figure out where Quakers are and what we are up to. The dream of QuakerMaps is to make information about Quaker meetings/churches available to anyone who seeks it.
QuakerMaps exists to be a one-stop shop for basic information about Quaker communities. It's intended to be an interactive experience that allows both longtime Quakers and curious newcomers to explore the geography of 21st-century Quakerism and see how we can get involved. It's about making Quaker communities visible, transparent, and inviting.
Until recently, we haven't been doing so hot.
QuakerMaps.com was originally built as a simple Wordpress website in 2010. Micah Bales and Jon Watts created it as as a collection of Google Maps that showed the location and basic information of Quaker meetings/churches throughout North America and beyond. After a flurry of creative activity, the site has sat mostly unchanged for six years.
All that is about to change.
This project is an attempt to take the original dream of QuakerMaps and finally make it a reality. The new QuakerMaps will employ a Ruby/Sinatra backend to load a simple yet satisfying web app powered by Javascript. We hope that the result will be an engaging experience for everyone seeking information about the geography of modern-day Quakerism.
The new QuakerMaps will be made possible through a partnership with the Friends World Committee on Consultation. FWCC is providing the database of Quaker meetings/churches - the raw information necessary required to make this project a success. Together with the technical contributions of volunteers, QuakerMaps will be an important resource for Friends and seekers for years to come.