MapatonCDMX
Gamifying civic participation to map Mexico City’s informal transit
Challenge
Mexico City’s informal bus system carries 60% of daily commutes, yet no official map existed. The city lacked resources for traditional mapping consultants, while millions of riders navigated routes through collective memory and daily experience.
Approach
We created MapatonCDMX, a mobile gaming app that crowdsourced transit mapping through civic competition. The game rewarded users with virtual prizes, with algorithms designed to incentivize mapping the most obscure routes and identify potential cheating. Working with government agencies, NGOs, and tech partners, we transformed routine commutes into collective data generation.
In February 2016, we launched a two-week mapping competition. 3,557 users mapped 51,308 km (31,881 mi), spending 685,188 minutes—equivalent to 475 days—actively documenting routes.
Impact
The crowdsourced data became openly available as GTFS (General Transit Feed Specification), enabling Google Maps integration and hosting a hackathon at Google Mexico. For the first time, Mexico City had a comprehensive, public transit map of its informal system—created by the people who use it daily.
My Role
Consultant (Managing Partner, M+urbano)
Team
LabCDMX, CETRAM, SEMOVI, PIDES Innovación Social, Krieger Electronics, ITDP Mexico, Planeación & Desarrollo SC, M+urbano, Transconsult, Ally and Urban LaunchPad.
Awards
Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation 2016
Publications
OECD Case studies, Next City, Beyond Bureaucracy, GMF
CMDX 2016