The Historical Marker Database (HMdb.org) is an online database that documents locations of numerous historical markers and

commemorative plaque A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, bearing text or an image in relief, or both, ...

s in the United States as well as other countries. The database was launched in 2006 by computer programmer J. J. Prats. The HMdb was launched in 2006 with 179 markers that Prats had personally documented. By 2015 the site listed more than 74,000 markers. In addition to listing markers in the United States, the site also lists some markers from more than 40 other countries. By the start of 2018, the site documented more than 100,000 markers. By the start of 2025, more than 225,000 markers had been documented. The HMdb has been described as "

crowdsourced Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digit ...

", and according to the site's self-description, "Anyone can add new markers to the database and update existing marker pages with new photographs, links, information and commentary." Dozens of Editors review entries from hundreds of Correspondents before they are accepted into the database. Artist

Paul Druecke Paul Druecke (born 1964, Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American artist who works at the intersections of poetry, sculpture, video, and photography. His work was included in the 2014 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art and antholog ...

described the HMdb as "a different sort of catalogue", one that "allows geeks like me to explore historical plaques throughout the United States." Druecke did a series of charcoal drawings depicting official state-sponsored plaques. In 2011, Silvio Lacetti argued that the HMdb "offers a wonderful opportunity" for history teachers to instill interest in students by being "a Columbus leading his or her young crew on journeys of local historical discovery", enabling them "to search, discover and learn" through historical markers. The HMdb displays historical event locations using

Google Maps Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panorama, interactive panoramic views of streets (Google Street View, Street View ...

. The HMdb served as the basis for the database for the online

augmented reality Augmented reality (AR), also known as mixed reality (MR), is a technology that overlays real-time 3D computer graphics, 3D-rendered computer graphics onto a portion of the real world through a display, such as a handheld device or head-mounted ...

game

Ingress Ingress may refer to: Science and technology * Ingress (signal leakage), the passage of an outside signal into a coaxial cable * Ingress filtering, a computer network packet filtering technique * Ingress protection rating, a protection level th ...

, which was then later repurposed for

Pokémon Go ''Pokémon Go'' (stylized as ''Pokémon GO'') is a 2016 augmented reality (AR) mobile game originally developed and published by Niantic in collaboration with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for iOS and Android devices. It uses mobile devic ...

Bibliography (additional)

References

External links

HMdb.org (About page)
{{Volunteered geographic information Database providers