The 4th Panhellenic School Map Competition “The place we live in. Mapping our local landmarks” is being implemented during the 2025-2026 school year, with a theme routed in local identity, heritage and a sense of place.

The Competition aims to engage students in discovering and showcasing the uniqueness of their local area by leveraging new technologies, the power of digital maps, and geospatial storytelling.

With the support of their teachers, students go out into their communities as explorers and human sensors – observing, documenting and mapping the landmarks that shape the character of their local landscape. A landmark can be a historic building, a natural feature, a neighbourhood square, a local tradition or any place that holds meaning for the community that lives there.

After being trained by Spotin in the use of geo-technologies – tools provided to schools free of charge upon request – students present their findings as a geo-narrative (storymap), combining maps, photographs, interviews, data and stories. Schools are also encouraged to design their own awareness-raising activities — fieldwork, community interviews, local archive research or presentations to families and local authorities.

The competition aligns with the educational policy of the Ministry of Education “Discovering Local History and Geography”, which encourages initiatives that strengthen the connection between schools and their local communities, as well as with the new curriculum “Active Citizen Actions”, which promotes active involvement of the school community in activities that prepare and shape creative, active, and critically thinking citizens.

Participants: Teachers and students from the 5th and 6th grades of Primary schools, and all grades of Secondary and High schools of General and Special Education in Greece and Greek schools abroad.