The MapLocal Constitution

MapLocal exists to strengthen real places by rewarding presence, contribution, and local verification. Its purpose is to enable communities to build durable value without extraction, without coercion, and without central capture.

MapLocal is infrastructure — not a marketplace, not a media platform, and not an authority.

1. A place is defined by lived human activity, not ownership, capital, or scale.
2. No entity may abstract, bundle, or monetize places in ways that detach value from local reality.
3. Place-based context is authoritative; global metrics are always secondary.

1. All value within MapLocal accrues from verified contribution.
2. Capital may support contribution, but may never replace it.
3. No amount of payment, ownership, or sponsorship grants reputation.

1. Trust is established locally, by those with proximity and context.
2. Verification must remain distributed and cannot be centralized.
3. Global or automated verification may assist, but never override local judgment.

1. Reputation is contextual, place-specific, and earned through presence.
2. Reputation may not be sold, traded, or moved without renewed contribution.
3. No reputation system may be designed to reward volume over meaning.

MapLocal must never:

1. Sell attention, behavioral data, or engagement optimization.
2. Require participation in ad markets or speculative economies.
3. Incentivize displacement, hollowing-out, or artificial scarcity.
4. Convert community activity into extractive financial instruments.

1. Participation is open to all.
2. Influence is earned, not granted.
3. Barriers may exist for trust, but never for entry.

1. Ownership concentration, inactivity, and suppression of contribution must be visible.
2. Absence and hollowing-out are treated as signal, not noise.
3. No mechanism may hide or smooth over the effects of extraction.

1. MapLocal shall exercise the least authority necessary to function.
2. Governance exists to protect invariants, not to direct outcomes.
3. When in conflict, preservation of place and contribution prevails over growth.

1. These principles supersede convenience, scale, and revenue.
2. Any change that weakens local trust, contribution, or place-primacy violates this constitution.
3. MapLocal may fail, but it may not betray its purpose.

MapLocal is successful when:

Growth is optional.

Integrity is not.

• Communities are stronger
• Value circulates locally
• Extraction becomes inefficient
• Culture survives pressure

Before shipping any feature, confirm:

If any answer is “yes,” redesign until it is “no.”

• Does this increase extraction risk (data/attention/ads)?
• Does this allow capital to buy reputation or influence?
• Does this weaken local verification or make it centrally overrideable?
• Does this reward volume/scale over meaningful contribution?
• Does this detach value from place or make place abstract?