Today we are celebrating one year of Mappy Hours. If you aren’t familiar with the Mappy Hours that I host let me fill you in.  About every month, I get together a group of geospatial professionals for a time of networking, professional development, and connection. 

 I started the Mappy Hours last September, when I was feeling really disconnected, sad, and isolated. I started it, assuming that I would host the Mappy Hour once and that would be it. Instead, we have continued to host Mappy Hours over the course of the past year, and it has been such a powerful thing. 

During my Mappy Hours, I have seen the geospatial community step up and care for other people and care for myself. Even though I met my husband, dating online I never really understood how people could build real relationships with people that they met on the internet. The geospatial community in the past year has taught me that you can build relationships through a computer screen.  

I want to share just a few of the ways that I have seen our community be powerful.  

• Todd Bar for giving me a domain. Todd owned TheMappyHour.com domain as it was related to their podcast. However, earlier this year Todd transferred the domain to me, and I now have that domain. I’ve talked with Todd on the phone before, but I’ve never met them in person. I’m thankful that they thought of me and gave me the domain. 
• Dr. Christ Harrision, who I have also never met in person, designed the logo that you see for Mappy Hours. Dr Chris looked at my color scheme and designed something that perfectly captures my quirky side and the purpose of the event. I never asked him to do it. He just did it for me. I’m thankful for that.   
• This year we’ve had some amazing people present. Including POI data from  Safe Graph with Briana Brown, Dissenting opinions on GIS (after the death of Russ Bader Ginsburg) GIS and social justice with Frank Romo, and many other topics of conversation.  
• Relationships. I’ve seen some beautiful relationships come from the Mappy Hour events.  I’ve seen people cheer and walk alongside others during a long season of unemployment.  I’ve seen offering of networks to those looking to make career switches. I’ve seen very different people come together to support the Geo community.  I’m really thankful for that.  

Thank you to everyone who has come, encouraged, and participated.  I hope to see you at our One Year Birthday Event on September 20^th!