A massive new, free online platform will guide people through the cultural and historic draws in North Vancouver, West Vancouver, and the region’s Indigenous communities.

Yesterday evening, North Van Arts officially launched the Culture Compass, a project to catalogue and map out sites like museums, natural attractions, annual festivals, and art galleries. It's aimed at locals and tourists alike.

“The North Shore was a bedroom community of Vancouver for a long time — however over the past few decades it has grown exponentially, establishing a distinctive cultural identity,” Nancy Cottingham Powell, executive director of North Van Arts, said at the announcement. “The North Shore Culture Compass will help define what North Shore culture is today by making culture more visible and convenient to access, fostering collaborations, and encouraging a better understanding of our shared home. UNESCO recognizes that cultural mapping is critical in preserving both the tangible and intangible components that comprise a community — this interactive tool is a way to appreciate all the North Shore has to offer.”

The Culture Compass is submission-based and already features more than 400 listings, from the Lynn Canyon Ecology Centre to Silk Purse Arts Centre, the Polygon Gallery, and the Squamish Welcome Figure at Ambleside. Listings are searchable by keyword and organized into 10 distinct categories such as "public art", "First Nations", and "Festivals & Events".