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Get students innovating

A screenshot of Records on the Tampa Through Time map

Humap is more than just a research tool. It’s a hands-on, accessible way to explore history, geography, literature, language, and more through interactive, place-based learning.

Build engaging, collaborative classroom projects that let students contribute to real-world research, tell local stories, and see their work in the public domain.

Image from the University of South Florida’s Tampa Through Time

A photograph of Douglass Sullivan-González, Ph.D.
"I’ve found the Humap software to be very intuitive, and it provides us a tool to communicate a story and hard data in a very manageable format. This software will become a staple in University-community experiential learning."
Douglass Sullivan-González, Ph.D. Professor of History, University of Mississippi

Bring learning to life

Whether it’s mapping the journey of a historical figure, building a digital tour of local landmarks, or recording oral histories from the community, Humap helps students connect what they’re learning to the world around them.

With Humap, students can:

  • Create multimedia maps and exhibitions 
  • Collaborate in teams or work alone 
  • Reinforce their digital research and storytelling skills
  • Publish something they’re proud to show off – not a .ppt file that will never be looked at again

Humap has been used in universities, secondary schools (ages 11-16), and even primary classrooms (ages 6-11)—with no Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software training required.

Image from the University of Coventry’s Coventry Atlas

A screenshot showing content thumbnails on the Coventry Atlas website

Case study: the University of Mississippi

Professor Douglass Sullivan-González has been using Humap to get students thinking spatially. Here’s what he has to say about interactive maps in the classroom:

“I’ve worked with first-year University students at the Croft Institute for International Studies.

We work to train them with several objectives in mind, and one, in particular, focuses on public history or communicating what we know with key stakeholders.

I break my first-year students into teams of five and give them two days to present both a narrative and data of an immigrant’s journey somewhere in the Americas, preferably beginning in Latin America and venturing into the USA (pre-Trump).  Each team contributes one “techie” who works with me to learn the Humap software interface in a 30-minute session, and then returns to the group.

Each team then publishes the story of the migrant on the Humap website with a beginning and end of the journey along with three points of destination in between these bookends.  The published narrative must include data to illustrate a particular point. Thus, we merge “story” and “trend” into a very communicable platform.

I’ve used this approach for two years now and it works very well.

I’ve found the Humap software through this process to be very intuitive, and it provides us a tool to communicate a story and hard data in a very manageable format.  This software will become a staple in University-community experiential learning.”

Records and collections feature

Why educators use Humap

We know educators are overstretched and under-resourced. Humap was designed to support teaching and learning, not add more admin.

  • Easy to use: No downloads, no coding, and no need to learn complex GIS tools.
  • Safe and secure: Flexible permissions allow you to moderate, restrict, or open content as needed.
  • Scalable: Use it for a single module or a multi-year research project. Create as many maps and users as you need.
  • Interdisciplinary: interactive map-making is a holistic learning experience. It might be a History class, but creating maps reinforces geographic knowledge, as well as computer literacy and communication.
  • Impactful: Students gain skills, confidence, and something tangible to show for their work.

Humap fits beautifully into classroom, fieldwork, or remote settings

Image from The Institute of Historical Research’s Layers of London

A screenshot demonstrating how to add a location to a record

A classroom-friendly platform

  • No installations or logins required for viewing

  • Works on tablets, phones, laptops, and shared computers

  • Single Sign-On available (Google, Microsoft, Apple)

  • Customisable privacy settings—keep projects private, semi-public, or fully published

  • Content moderation tools to keep students safe

Image elements taken from the London School of Economic’s Charles Booth’s London, The Institute of Historical Research’s Layers of London, Scarborough Museums & Galleries Scarborough Atlas, and the Merseyside Maritime Museum’s Mapping Memory.

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