A Deep Mapping Platform for Curated History, Inclusive Memory, and Place-Based Events
Cultural Fabric is a modular geospatial storytelling and heritage management platform rooted in the principles of deep mapping—a method that layers geography, memory, and history to reveal the complex meanings of place. But Cultural Fabric is more than a digital map—it's a highly curated cultural infrastructure designed to help communities identify, interpret, and elevate their most significant historical assets.
At the core of our mission is a commitment to uplifting stories that have long been marginalized or overlooked—including those of enslaved peoples and their descendants, Indigenous communities, early settlers, immigrant laborers, and other groups whose contributions have shaped our shared landscapes. We work closely with local partners—tribal nations, cemetery boards, historical societies, preservationists, and civic leaders—to carefully document and interpret the stories that matter most.
And Cultural Fabric doesn’t just preserve the past—it activates it.
Through integrated event mapping and management tools, communities can use the platform to promote public engagement and drive attendance to cultural events. By mapping the physical layout of festivals, tours, and commemorations alongside the historic sites, buildings, and cemeteries that ground them, event organizers can offer an immersive experience that connects attendees to the deeper meaning of place.
Cultural Fabric supports:
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Thematic mapping of cemeteries, cultural landscapes, and architectural heritage
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Data management for burial records, census-linked histories, and interpretive content
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Curation of inclusive historical narratives, with a focus on equity and repair
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Story-driven event maps that visualize tours, talks, and cultural programming in spatial context
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Tools for planning, interpreting, and sharing events rooted in historical locations
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Community investment of a single module or multiple modules. The database will always allow you to expand, if desired.
Whether organizing a cemetery walking tour, highlighting the stories behind rural homesteads and historic villages, or mapping an African American heritage trail, Cultural Fabric helps communities draw people in—literally and figuratively—through the power of place-based storytelling.
We don’t map everything. We map what matters—together. Especially the stories that bring people back to the land, and to each other.
Modular by Design. Built for Your Community
Cultural Fabric connects your community’s places, stories, and people using tools you already have. It’s designed to grow with your vision—one site, one story, one step at a time.
A Gateway to Local Heritage
A Digital Platform to Preserve, Promote, and Connect
Deep Mapping
Explore your community’s past through rich, multilayered maps that connect people, place, and memory across time.
Curated Historical Asset Management
We don’t map everything—we map what matters. Our platform is thoughtfully designed to highlight historically significant sites, themes, and records, in partnership with local experts.
Inclusive Storytelling
Cultural Fabric centers underrepresented histories—documenting the lives and legacies of enslaved peoples, Indigenous communities, immigrant laborers, early settlers, and others whose voices deserve recognition.
Cartographic Event Mapping
Turn history into a destination. Cultural Fabric helps communities plan and promote public events—from walking tours and reenactments to cemetery programs and heritage festivals—using detailed, story-driven maps that connect programming with the historic places that inspire it.
Built on Trusted ESRI Infrastructure
Cultural Fabric is designed within the ESRI geospatial ecosystem, making it easy for counties, cities, and heritage organizations to integrate with the mapping tools and data systems they already use. No need to start from scratch—just build on what’s already working.
Start Small, Build Over Time
Cultural Fabric is designed to be flexible—you can start with any module that fits your community’s current needs, and expand over time as your goals grow.
Community History Builder
The Community History Builder helps local historians, educators, and everyday citizens create digital timelines, map historic events, and tag important places with real stories. Upload photos, documents, oral histories, and more to build immersive, place-based narratives that bring your town’s past to life. Think of it as a crowd-sourced time machine for your community.
Supports heritage trails, self-guided tours, and digital storytelling experiences that invite visitors to explore meaningful places and hear local voices.
Cemetery Management
The Cemetery Mapper module is your all-in-one tool for preserving burial records, mapping grave locations, and unlocking the history hidden in your community’s cemeteries. Easily search, browse, and manage records while connecting gravesites to family trees, census records, and historic events. It’s part preservation tool, part storytelling engine—and it’s designed to make stewardship simple for caretakers, volunteers, and researchers alike.
Transforms cemeteries into educational and heritage tourism destinations with mapped walking tours, digital biographies, and interpretive signage.
Census Mapper™
Reconstruct historic enumeration districts and link individuals to the physical neighborhoods where they lived. This spatial genealogy layer enhances community memory and research access.
This module blends detailed census data with georeferenced historic maps to give you a dynamic view of the people, places, and patterns that shaped your community. Search by age, ethnicity, occupation, or household, and watch the landscape shift across decades through beautifully overlaid historic maps. Whether you're exploring a city block or a rural township, this tool helps you trace families, visualize neighborhoods, and understand how migration, development, and history shaped the place you call home.
Main Street Navigator
This interactive tool uses 360° imagery and overlaid historic photos to bring your downtown districts to life—past and present. Dive into the stories behind local landmarks, view buildings in 3D, and explore how your Main Street has evolved. Perfect for sharing community history, supporting local businesses, and inviting visitors to experience your heritage in person. Part of the Cultural Fabric platform, it links each building to a broader story—census records, homes, workplaces, and even final resting places—bringing your built heritage to life, one layer at a time.
Genealogy Linker
Designed to bridge public records with personal discovery, the Genealogy Linker connects burial data, census records, land ownership, and more to help users trace family histories and community ties. Whether you’re following your own lineage or researching the people behind a place, this module makes it easy to search, visualize, and understand the threads that bind us.
Historic Map Explorer
The Historic Map Explorer lets you overlay georeferenced historic maps onto today’s landscapes—making it easy to see what’s changed, what’s remained, and what’s been forgotten. From 19th-century plat maps to early 20th-century Sanborn fire insurance sheets, this module helps you explore how communities evolved and where lost landmarks once stood. Perfect for educators, planners, preservationists, and map lovers alike.
Community Powered
The Cultural Fabric Platform is meant to bring multiple organizations together to build a fully representative digital portrait of their community's past, empowering them through heritage to promote their communities as a place of pride and outside discovery.
Enable volunteers and local experts to contribute stories, audio, photos, and data through crowdsourcing tools, with optional incentives and recognition. Collaborate with us to host a volunteer workshop that brings your community’s history to life—by linking historical census data to burial and genealogical records, land ownership plat maps to historical land ownership parcels, and significant historic sites to oral histories to build a richer, map-based portrait of the people and places that shaped your community. Together, we can uncover, preserve, and share the significant events, properties, and histories that matter.
Join us!
Help shape the future of our collective Cultural Fabric.
Cultural Fabric is more than just a mapping tool—it's a dynamic, evolving Spatial Humanities initiative that seamlessly integrates technology, history, and community involvement. This platform allows us to explore the past in interactive and meaningful ways. We invite community leaders, tourism bureaus, cemetery managers, and genealogists to contribute to the future of cultural asset mapping by linking people, places, and events across time. Whether you're managing cultural data, seeking new ways to engage the public, or uncovering connections between historical figures, events, and sites, Cultural Fabric provides the tools to map and share these crucial stories. Our platform enables the creation of organized, interactive inventories of historical sites, with the option for users to keep data private if preferred. Become a pioneer partner, follow our journey through our personal journal, or share your insights through our survey to shape the future of digital history.