[1] In 2017, Canadian artist and designer Lucas LaRochelle began working on Queering the Map for a class project at Concordia University in Montreal.

LaRochelle has cited the lasting impact of personal memories on their perceptions towards places and Sara Ahmed's ideas on queerness as an orientation towards space as influences behind the project.

The same month, a cyberattack generating pins with comments in support of U.S. president Donald Trump forced LaRochelle to take down the site and ask for help on its URL.

[6] Queering the Map has received press coverage through media outlets based in Australia,[7] Brazil, [8] Canada, the Czech Republic, [9] France, Spain,[10] Switzerland,[11] the UK and the U.S., including Autostraddle, CBC Arts, CityNews,[12] Condé Nast Traveler, [13] Fugues,[14] Numerama, Paper, rabble.ca,[15] The McGill Daily, The Skinny,[16] VICE, and VOGUE.

[18] In 2018, Queering the Map received an honorary mention at the Prix Ars Electronica[19] and was longlisted for the Kantar Information is Beautiful Awards[20] and the Lumen Prize for Digital Art.