Hay, Duncan; Lovett, Leah; Abdou, Abdel; Dewfield, Sabina; Thom, Colin; (2025) Memory Mapper: Routes to Commercialisation. Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, UCL Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment: London, UK.

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Abstract

This white paper presents findings from a six-month project funded by the AHRC into the prospect of offering Memory Mapper, an open-source web application for mapping cultural heritage developed at UCL, as a paid-for service. It is based on user and market research conducted on behalf of Memory Mapper by Sabina Dewfield. This document situates Memory Mapper in relation to broader trends within spatial humanities research, positioning the software as potentially offering a route to widening access to digital research methods within the humanities. In so doing, we propose, this would lower some of the disciplinary boundaries between digital and hermeneutic methods, and provide new routes for humanities academics to engage with public audiences. We then explore the conditions in which research software is produced and our motivation for commercialising the software. We argue that commercialising research software outputs which can serve the needs of a range of research projects offers one way of tackling the perennial problem of maintaining digital outputs. Memory Mapper, based on the now relatively mature and stable technology of web GIS, is a potential example of this; we hope by sharing these insights we can prompt thinking within the sector around using this strategy in other areas. The document then details our proposed route to commercialising the software, including a discussion of possible payment models and phases of service expansion, identifying goals and risks at each stage. The document concludes with a detailed development roadmap, breaking the tasks into four work packages: ‘From Maps to Projects’; ‘Map Authoring’; ‘Collaboration’; and ‘Map Linkage’.

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