Unmapped Histories

Mapping queer and BIPOC community sites, making hidden histories visible and honoring the communities that shaped our world.

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Inspiration

In the past, political and social power has greatly influenced the recording of history. Because of this, many spaces significant to queer and BIPOC communities are left without documentation, not because they didn’t matter, but because they weren’t considered “official” enough to preserve. Bars, community centers, and cultural hubs often exist only in memory after being closed.

We were inspired by the idea of a maps that shows the history that shaped us, rather than only what exists now. We wanted to create a way for communities to preserve their own histories, not through institutions or archives, but through lived experience, memory, and storytelling.

What it does

Unmapped Histories is an interactive, community-centered storytelling map that preserves the histories of culturally significant places, especially queer and BIPOC spaces that have been erased, threatened, or transformed.

Users can:

  • Explore a map of meaningful locations
  • Read stories tied to each place
  • View quotes and community context
  • Add their own timeline entries with images, captions, and dates
  • Listen to AI-assisted narrations of stories for increased accessibility

How we built it

Frontend:

  • React + Vite + JavaScript for user interface
  • Tailwind CSS for visuals
  • Mapbox GL JS for implementing the map

Data & Architecture:

  • Shared type contracts to ensure consistent data across features
  • Storage for images, captions, and timelines

AI Integration:

  • Gemini is used to generate respectful summaries of long-form stories
  • ElevenLabs provides optional narration for accessibility
  • AI outputs are clearly labeled as assistive, not authoritative

Challenges we ran into

One challenge we faced was working with the Gemini API. Originally we were not able to retrieve any responses from the model, however we were able to solve this by trying our program on a different system. Once we ensured the program was working on a different system we were able to narrow down our debugging to an isolated circumstance on the original team member's machine, rather than our own code.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of integrating both the Gemini API and the IIElevenLabs API in order to create a community-first storytelling tool that emphasizes memories.

What we learned

We learning that technology doesn’t have to be loud to be impactful and that AI works best as an assistant, not an authority.

What's next for Unmapped Histories

With more time we would love to implement having editable AI summaries so communities can correct or contextualize AI output. Additionally, we would like to add community tagging and thematic filters such as music, activism, nightlife, art.

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