What’s under your feet?

For historical societies

A lot of local history lives with small volunteer groups, on websites that are one lapsed domain away from going dark. History Underfoot is starting a coalition of Atlanta-area historical societies and history groups to share the technical work: rebuilt websites (free); rescue copies of what you have now, in open formats; and pages that search engines and AI assistants can find and credit. Every group keeps its own material. How it works

How the maps are made

• Sources on every claim. Each place, lake and line lists where it came from, and says when a location is approximate or the sources disagree.
• AI, in the open. AI agents help research, read old aerial photos and check claims against their sources. People decide what is published, and each map explains how it was made: see how AI was used for Atlanta.
• Some places stay private. No locations of archaeological sites or graves, and no advice on digging or collecting.

More places

Atlanta is the first. If your town has a historical society or library that would like a map like this, write to hello@historyunderfoot.org.