About
Forage MTL is a personal, hand-curated map of foraging spots and a field guide to urban edible plants around the island of Montréal. Confirmed spots are places I've actually visited; everything else on the map is a scouting lead — a hint from open data that still needs to be checked in person before it's trustworthy.
Open source
This whole site — the map, the plant guides, the little live API behind the pins — is open source. You're welcome to read the code, learn from it, file an issue, or fork it for your own city.
Scouting-leads data sources
The unverified leads on the map (the circles, diamonds, and triangles) come from three open datasets. They're a one-time snapshot, not a live feed, and their locations can be imprecise or out of date — which is exactly why they're marked as leads and must be confirmed on the ground before they become real spots. Credit and licences:
- iNaturalist (● circles) — research-grade community observations from iNaturalist. A sighting of a species isn't the same as permission or a good picking spot — treat each as a hint.
- Falling Fruit (◆ diamonds) — community-mapped edible spots from Falling Fruit, used under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (attribution, non-commercial, share-alike).
- Ville de Montréal (▲ triangles) — a sample of the city's public street- and park-tree inventory from données Montréal, used under CC BY 4.0. The city notes these locations may be imprecise or outdated.
Forage responsibly
Never eat anything you can't identify with certainty against a live plant and two independent sources. Learn the poisonous lookalike before the edible. Forage lightly, respect private property and city bylaws, and leave plenty behind. When in doubt, throw it out.