Cultural mapping is:

A systematic approach to identifying, recording and classifying a community’s cultural resources.  It involves a process of collecting, analysing and synthesizing information in order to describe and visualize the cultural resources in terms of issues such as links to other civic resources (e.g. transportation, green infrastructure, public gathering spaces), patterns of usage, and unique character and identity of a given community.

There are two kinds of cultural resources that are the focus of cultural mapping. Together tangible and intangible cultural assets fuel cultural vitality and contribute to defining the unique cultural identity and sense of place of a community:

·       Tangible Cultural Assets – identifying and recording physical (or tangible) cultural resources making use of Geographic Information System (GIS) tools and platforms;

·       Intangible Cultural Assets – exploring and recording intangible cultural assets – the stories and traditions that contribute to defining a community’s unique identity and sense of place.

Cultural Resources Framework

The problem in communities is not a lack of information on culture but rather that information is collected by different agencies, in different ways and for different purposes. The first step is therefore the consolidation of existing data from multiple sources and coding that data accordingly, based on a consistent set of categories of cultural resources called the Cultural Resource Framework (CRF) illustrated in the above diagram.

One sign of this growing recognition is found in the formal entrenchment of cultural resource mapping in a new Official Plan adopted by the City of Vaughan in Ontario.

“Cultural mapping is a systematic approach to identifying and recording cultural resources. It can identify and record tangible cultural resources using GIS tools, but can also use community identity mapping to explore intangible cultural resources, such as unique histories, values, traditions and stories that combine to define a community’s identity and sense of place.

Through multimedia enriched web-based maps, cultural mapping enhances access to information on local cultural resources for residents and visitors and provides a platform for marketing and promoting these resources. Cultural mapping also establishes a base of information to support planning decisions, and can identify resource distribution to assist in identifying new and emerging cultural industries and employment sectors.”

City of Vaughan Official Plan (2010)