AI-ASSISTED · EDITOR-REVIEWED
Theme brief
Smell is mobile, weather-dependent and subjective. You can map likely sources, personal observations or modeled plumes, but avoid presenting a point location as a fixed exposure area without wind and time context.
Official prompt“How do you map things which your nose can sense? What does a smelly map look like?”
30DayMapChallenge 2026
WAYS IN
Four map ideas
- 01
Map a morning walk through bakeries, coffee roasters and markets.
- 02
Compare odor complaints with wind direction around an industrial site.
- 03
Create a seasonal smell calendar for flowering trees or farms.
- 04
Map pleasant and unpleasant smell memories collected from residents.
IN THE DIRECTORY
Recommended tools
OpenStreetMap
Provides queryable tags for bakeries, landfills, wastewater works and many other sources.
Free · View detailsQGIS
Combines source points, wind data, buffers and field observations.
Open source · View detailskepler.gl
Explores timestamped smell reports with filters and density views.
Open source · View detailsKoboToolbox
Collects geotagged sensory observations in the field.
Freemium · View detailsSTART WITH A CLEAR LICENSE
Data sources
Explore tags such as shop=bakery, craft=brewery and landuse=landfill.
ODbL 1.0 · attribution required Your own observationsDocument the collection method, date and privacy decisions.
You choose the license Municipal or regional open-data portalLook for incident, environment, facility or sensor data with clear metadata.
Varies by publisherLicenses are a planning aid, not legal advice. Check the source record and version you actually download; terms can vary within a catalog.
BEFORE YOU EXPORT
Cartography check
Record time, weather and the observer’s description. Smell observations lose much of their meaning without those attributes.
COMMUNITY MAPS
Selected work
First participate officially by posting publicly with #30DayMapChallenge. You can then suggest that original post for our independent MapTools picks. We link to the source, credit every author and use images only with permission.
Suggest for MapTools picks