This participatory platform enables one’s participation with the help of online, interactive maps. Its innovative approach integrates online questionnaires and interactive maps, and saves the results in a GIS database. It was designed and developed within the EU project SWITCH. We tested it via public discussion concerning the use of water canals in the city district of Wilhelmsburg, in Hamburg, Germany. Try our concept online!
”Wilhelmsburg am Wasser” enables you to interact and participate with the help of online, interactive maps. It includes an innovative approach in which it integrates online questionnaire with interactive, GIS-based maps. The online questionnaire is directly linked to the interactive online map and the answers to the questionnaire and the answers entered on the map are stored in a GIS database on the server. The participatory platform is organized in the following three sections: home, information and contact. The home section explains the goals of the participatory platform and provides the information about the duration of the survey, which is estimated at about 20-30 minutes. The information section provides some basic information about the project and its goals. The contact section provides information about the contact persons.
The concept was implemented with an open source technology and tested in a public participation process in a city district Wilhelmsburg, in Hamburg, Germany. Wilhelmsburg is the largest inhabited river island in Europe and characterized by a number of canals. One of the goals of public participation executed in Wilhelmsburg was to stimulate the discussion about the current use of the canals by the inhabitants and their wishes for their use in the future. The combination of the GIS maps combined with the online questionnaire enabled the inhabitants of Wilhelmsburg to draw their answers directly into the online maps. The results of the participation processes were saved directly into the central database. The results of the participation process were used for the development of the ‘Water Sensitive Urban Design’ concept within the European research project SWITCH – Sustainable Water Management Improves Tomorrows Cities Health (www.switchurbanwater.eu).
“How would you like to use the water canals in Wilhelmsburg? ‘Wilhelmsburg am Wasser’ will help to address your needs!”
GeoGames Lab 