Free Book Box and Micro-Pantry Map

https://bit.ly/boxesmap

The map is below, but I think it's easier to click the link above and use the map in its own dedicated window. If you're on a phone, after you go to the map, click on the little white box in the upper right and you'll see it in Google Maps, which gives a different view.

For the map below you can access the legend by clicking on the little "screen with arrow" icon in the upper left.

Click on a location in the legend or on the map for an address, description, and picture. Also, more community maps below.

Please send your additions and corrections to the map to me.

If you want to spread the word, here's a page of 10 "business cards" for printing. You can also get a single card image, or just the QR code. Point your phone's camera at it and you'll be led to https://bit.ly/boxesmap. (If you want to make your own QR code for anything, it's free and easy.)

This map contains many more free library boxes than the official Little Free Library map. (Note: there's also now a Little Free Library app, which appears to be missing even more boxes.) Boxes not mapped there are shown with a darker blue marker. If you own a box and want to add to or change your description, just let me know.

Pantries: this map shows just the micro-pantries and community fridges where people can conveniently donate food. For larger food pantries, search your address on this site. Medford has a unified site for food resources. For Somerville, you can post pictures of the status of any community fridge or micropantry on this public Facebook group, and there's one for the blessing box in Davis Square; for Medford, there are Facebook groups for the community fridge and for micropantries. You can find out more about the micropantry movement from this research article (which includes a photo of a micropantry in Medford).

Seed libraries: Arlington has a seed library, based at Robbins library. Anyone can take seeds, even if you don't have a library card. The other seed libraries I know are in Little Free Library form, at 25 Edward St, Medford and 301 Pleasant St, Belmont (on the border with Arlington). The Belmont box is run by the Mystic Charles Pollinator Pathways Group. Note the legend of our book map here also notes a few other types of boxes at the top: art, media, games, etc. If you know of any other specialized boxes or sites, email me.

Note there is also the Mini Pantry Movement map, which is missing a lot of boxes. If you own a minipantry, please do add it to their map. If you are thinking of creating one, they have lots of information about doing so.

To verify boxes, we visit them. Here's one photo collection - after clicking on a picture, click the info (i) icon in the upper right to see the location.

I've also been enjoying adding "if you're here, you might want to check out such-and-so" descriptions to a few boxes as I go, such as local public art, koi ponds (there is one near the Jay St box in Somerville), etc. But, I hardly know everything about all locations, so feel free to clue me and everyone else in.

This is a copy of the original map created by Kami Ford. She has moved away so I'm coordinating maintaining it. A bunch of people are helping out - you can, too! As well as adding new boxes, there are errors on this map which we are weeding out. For the original (now unmaintained) map by Kami, go here.

Thanks to all who have sent new locations and corrections. And more thanks to all of you who have built and maintain these wonderful resources that add so much to our communities. If you are an owner and want to provide further information about your box, please let me know.

Why do this? Because it feels good to help find ways to share books and food with others in our communities. Hunting boxes down and fixing the map is fun - it's like "Pokémon GO" with a purpose. Happy hunting!

Have a lot of books?

• Farmers markets north-west of Boston. Another little map I made, with color coding for which day(s) each is open. Click on a location marker to learn more. There's a map for all of Massachusetts here, though without coloration and I've noticed contradictory and a few missing entries, so beware. There is also a Boston-specific page.
• Community fridges in and around Boston shows still more fridges outside of the area of the map here, with much more detail about each.
• Bathroom Access - a map of public toilets in the Boston area, made by Amith Saligrama, a student at Commonwealth School.
• Somerville Sights, a "treasure map." My goals are to help people learn about their neighborhood and to get out and explore. At least, that's my after-the-fact justification.
• I Spy Somerville discovery map and filterable subset version, a collection of all of the various buildings, objects, and features collected by the residents of Somerville as part of the Somerville Historic Preservation Commission's "I Spy Somerville" Program.
• Cambridge Circular Economy Business Directory - a map of businesses in Cambridge and Somerville with more sustainable packaging and options and practices, such as bulk sales and reusable containers. Related resources can be found here.
• Minuteman Library Network - it's easy enough to search for libraries on Google Maps, but this map is dedicated to them.
• A letterbox map for the area. Letterboxing is fun with kids. The more adult version is geocaching, but you need to create an account for that site.
• The New England Makerspaces map, maintained by UMass Boston, is an good (though sometimes dated) resource to find nearby centers for learning various crafting skills.
• Falling Fruit, a map of fruit trees that are or drop their fruit on public land, for you to forage. Related, there's a fall foliage prediction map for the U.S.
• There is tree inventory map for Somerville.
• There's a map of the Mystic River showing greenways, paths, and more.
• Bike and walking trails in Massachusetts can be found on Mass Trail Tracker. The Trailmap gives a more thorough map with all public walking and hiking trails, with the ability to show just those you want. For just rail trails, see the Masstrails BIG MAP.
• The Labyrinth Locator map shows you locations for labyrinths and mazes around the world. The link is set to show massachusetts.
• Somerville Open Studios Map - the map shows where the studios are.
• Porchfest 2023, usually some time in May.
• Somerville Illuminations Tour - before Christmas many houses go wild with lights, this site gives a map of them.
• Walking Routes in Somerville has a bunch of self-guided walking and biking tours available.
• Cambridge Public Art Tours - click on a dot to get a map of public art in that neighborhood. The site's a bit wonky, but consider it part of the challenge.
• MIT has a self-guided tour map (and another one), as well as a public art tour.
• There is an unofficial walking tour of Harvard with good annotations.
• East Somerville provides a guidebook. Skip to page 14 for a great guide to most of the public art along Broadway, page 24 for a historic sites walking tour.
• The Atlas Obscura map shows some little-known tourist locations around the world (and you can report any you know). There is also a user-made New England map. Oddly, these two maps overlap, but each has some sites the other does not.
• The Cider Donuts map for all of New England, by Alex Schwartz (formerly of Cambridge). YouTube interview.
• Fall Foliage Prediction Map and another one - New England's the best place for leaf peeping, so find out where and when the colors are likely at peak.
• Bostonography has all sorts of random maps, like the distance to the nearest Dunkin and to liquor.
• Somerville Art Map, marking various art projects, large and small. Started 2011, it has some entries that no longer exist. I have folded its contents into the SomeSights map.
• The global Little Free Library and Little Free Pantry maps are incomplete, but cover the world.
• Free Book Box and Micro-Pantry Map - yes, I'm listing it here, in case you clicked a link to see just this list of local maps and didn't notice it at the top of the page.

If you want to take an existing user-made map and edit it, simply go to the map (using the Chrome browser) and in the upper left corner in the legend you'll see an icon with three vertical dot, to the right of the name of the map. Click that and you'll see "Copy map" as a choice. Click that and a new tab will open and your copy will eventually appear. You could try it on the book boxes map or farmers market map, if you like.

One annoying feature is that if you hit "delete" or "backspace" when editing, you will inadvertently delete the pin. You can undo such deletions by hitting Control-Z on Windows (Command-Z on the Mac).

By default, you have one "subgroup" at the top that includes all your pin locations. The "Add layer" button in the "Legend" area at the left lets you make a new subgroup, just as I have a subgroup for book boxes and one for micro-pantries. Also note the "Base map" area at the bottom of the Legend. You can choose a different style by clicking on the little arrow to the left of these words and choosing one. Me, I prefer the Terrain look, in the upper right of the grid of possibilities - a bit busy, perhaps, but cool.

Once your map is ready, you can share it with the public: on the map itself, in the legend on the left, there's a Share link near the top. If you Preview the map, you'll see a long link you can share, something crazy like https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?hl=en&mid=1ldz1Y5R_7F_8nMdE5zOT4NK2Fz-pMgNP&ll=42.3981057020408%2C-71.13707414999999&z=13. I recommend making a short, sane, link using bit.ly or other free service. In bit.ly you click "Create" then paste your link into the "paste long URL" box. It will provide you a random short link. But you can do better! In the "customize back half" box you can change the random string after the "bit.ly/" part to whatever you like. Many names will already be taken, many will not - figure out something short and sweet (and all lowercase is also nice).

If you have any tips on how to better make maps, please let me know and I'll add the information here. A much more serious guide for professional developers is also available - I haven't dared to touch that.

Thanks to many people on various Facebook groups and elsewhere for providing additions and corrections, including Parents of Camberville House Talk, Davis Square, the Cambridge-Somerville Be Neighborly Community Group, Everything is Free - Somerville, and the Zero Waste Cambridge group, among others. Thanks in particular to Crissy, Gal, Smriti, Maggi, Rachel, Rebecca, Katie, Abby, Josh, Anna, Kathrin, Dahlia, Martha, Allison, Karin, Maureen, Kelly, Jessica, Nancy, Cat Dossett, Ruth Faris, Ana, Michelle, Julie Steinhilber, Heidi Friedman, Jeff Shwom, Sarah, Belinda, Celeste, Melanie Raelin of Book Wonder, Len Tower Jr., Betty Widerski, Skunk, Zach Goldhammer, Bea Masters, Kat C, Alana, Cathy Haines, Elizabeth Moore, Louise Meehan, Megan Minger, Emily Yoder, Jessica Marie, Colin Holmes, Pablo Marco Rider, Mo Bouk, Emily Lee, Jessica LaBrie, Seth Finkelstein, and... anyone else who helps out (maybe you?).