Welcome to Open Road Season 1: Trailblazers

We are trailblazers.

Whether we’re taking a road trip to a national park or driving the backroads of our neighborhood, mapping lets us share what we learn. By exploring the world with a dashcam, we do our part to build a map so that all of humanity can navigate safely.

Nine months ago today, the Hivemapper Network went live. Since then, we explorers have mapped 35 million km of roads, 4 million km of which had a trail of pink hexes blazed for the first time. We’ve now mapped more than 6% of the world’s roads together.

But here’s the thing about explorers. We are restless. Never satisfied. There are so many places to go. So many things to see. On long summer days, we make the most of the daylight.

Today, Hivemapper is launching Open Road Season 1 to celebrate that spirit of trailblazing adventure, and to unite the Hivemapper community around our common mission.

Open Road is a new series of community-wide events that allow Hivemapper contributors to earn special rewards for achieving objectives – like a video game, but for real-world explorers. Each season of Open Road will run for a limited period of time and will include unique objectives that further our collective mission of building a fresh global map.

The first season, Trailblazers, kicks off today. The objective of Open Road Season 1: Trailblazers is to collectively reach the milestone of 6 million unique km mapped, equivalent to 10% of the world’s roads, by Oct. 1.

If we achieve this 6 million km objective, the Hivemapper Foundation will unlock a special airdrop of 6 MILLION HONEY, rewarding contributors with 3 HONEY per km of roads mapped for the first time during the season.

Special rewards, badges and surprises

You will automatically join Open Road Season 1: Trailblazers by mapping with a Hivemapper dashcam between Aug. 7 and Oct. 1, 2023. Taking part in the quest is as simple as choosing the road less traveled for whatever trips you have planned.

Just check out Hivemapper Explorer and find an unmapped road for that road trip you have planned to a national park, for your commute to work, or while visiting family out of town. Every day can be an adventure if you make it one.

To help you find fresh, never-before-mapped roads, the project team is deploying improvements to the stability of the Explorer map. Early next week, we will also add a graph to the contributor profile page that shows how many unique km you’ve added to the map during Open Road Season 1: Trailblazers. The counter will start at 0 and increase as you explore new roads.

Any contributor who crosses the milestone of 100 km of first-time mapped roads during the competition will also receive a special “Trailblazer” badge. You can expect more limited-time opportunities and surprises over the next two months.

Trailblazer photo contest

Open Road Season 1: Trailblazers will also include a weekly photo contest for community members to show how they’re exploring the open road with a Hivemapper dashcam.

To enter, just go on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook and post a photo that meets the following criteria by Oct. 1, 2023:

The photo should show an interesting place in the world that you were the first one to map. (What counts as interesting? That’s for you to decide.)
The photo must include a Hivemapper dashcam. The dashcam should be mounted in an approved position with all blue lights illuminated.
The post must include the hashtag #openroad1.

Trail notes

For more details on the Open Road series and the details of Season 1: Trailblazers, please read this FAQ. We’re excited to learn from Season 1 and to build the Open Road series into a regular fixture with more and more ways to participate.

Don't hesitate to share your suggestions for the next season on Discord (use the #openroad channel) or on social media.

But what are we waiting for?

Iconic roads such as the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Nürburgring, and Amalfi Drive haven’t been mapped. Neither have the backroads to iconic destinations such as Mt. Fuji, Uluru/Ayers Rock, and the Great Wall.

Time to get out and explore.