GOAT – Geo Open Accessibility Tool
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Project Description
Cities and regions all over Europe aim for transformation towards a more sustainable and livable reality. It is evident that car-oriented development is over and new directions such as the 15-minute city become the objective. The digital planning instrument GOAT provides powerful accessibility analyses for walking and cycling. It gives a wide range of individuals the ability to evaluate scenarios (e.g. re-distribution of amenities, improved walking network) for different user groups.
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EU Programme or fund
Description of the project
Summary
The classical paradigm of the last decades in transport and urban planning can be summarized as “Car-oriented development”. For years we share the common vision to transform urban structures towards a more sustainable and livable future. Nowadays, communities worldwide are ready for change and are willing to venture into transformation. Trending concepts such as the “15-minute city” are being adopted at an unprecedented pace to the most sustainable forms of transport: Walking and cycling
Active modes of travel require relatively dense urban structure while keeping the highest standard of urban design. A particularly powerful methodology in this regard is the concept of accessibility, as it provides a holistic view on urban structure and transport. It excels when picturing individual opportunities (e.g. people with reduced mobility) or when doing temporal analysis (e.g. day vs. night).
With GOAT (https://www.open-accessibility.org/) we bring the concept of accessibility into practice by an interactive web-based instrument for planning the “15-minute city”. Through a joyful map-based user interface it provides powerful indicators such as walkability benchmarks and accessibility heatmaps, which are derived using a wide range of data sources. Most exciting about the tool is the possibility to evaluate the effects of scenarios (e.g. new kindergarten, redesigned residential area, or new pedestrian bridge) with a few simple clicks. While our focus groups are planning professionals (e.g. architects and engineers) from fields like building development planning, strategic urban/transport planning and location planning, we also reach decision-makers and the general public. Accordingly iterative and evidence-based planning is provided for diverse use cases. GOAT was/is developed in a co-creative open-source environment, mainly in the Munich region. Currently, it is online for five cities and was already transferred to over 30 municipalities in Germany, the EU and worldwide.
Key objectives for sustainability
We interpret sustainability by its social, environmental and economic dimensions. Sustainable cities therefore require sustainable forms of mobility, high quality of public space, high local accessibility, strong local economy, and attractive green infrastructure. Our goal with GOAT is to provide the right planning and design instrument for these challenges.
Walking and cycling are the most sustainable forms of transportation (emission-free, space-efficient, free of charge). GOAT supports the practice to shape an attractive walking and cycling environment, as well as plan for a balanced distribution of amenities and therefore foster local accessibility. Nearby destinations are decisive for designing inclusive neighborhoods while strengthening the local economy. By applying the concept of accessibility, which links the land use and transport component, it can e.g. be highlighted how many residents are served by various destinations (e.g. schools, restaurants). This is particularly important in times of degrading urban centers and business closures in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis.
Therefore, GOAT can act as planning support to face urban renewal and public realm by enabling users to interactively highlight shortcomings and evaluate the effect of self-designed scenarios (e.g. new local market) on accessibility. GOAT also includes a holistic walkability indicator on the street level incorporating over 30 sub-indicators (e.g. availability of green space, the liveliness of street space, noise levels). Users can thus immediately identify shortcomings in the street network on a dynamic map and trigger change with the help of evidence-based analyses. As a result, livable and sustainable street spaces can be designed, which do not only foster sustainable mobility but equally important, strengthens local value creation. GOAT is not only an affordable planning tool, but objectively assists in decision-making processes, thus ensuring the optimal use of public funds.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
With GOAT, we continuously aim for a balance between scientific rigor in indicator development and user experience. Our web-based solution convinces by bundling powerful indicators in a playful user interface. Users can craft their own analysis with aesthetic and interactive maps without having to learn complex software. Among others, several options for customizing the maps (different background maps, adjusting the colors, adding additional spatial data, etc.) are provided. Those nice-looking, easily understandable maps support e.g. planners in presenting their ideas and help to make the right decisions in favor of sustainable mobility and livable cities. This facilitates a much wider range of individuals to use data-driven planning and design methods. It is particularly valuable that GOAT allows developing interactively scenarios on a WebMap with a few clicks in real-time.
The UI implements a simplified material design that delivers a familiar experience and overall user satisfaction. It has a structured layout, symmetry, clean and clear design which raises attractiveness for the users. At the same time, the tool prioritizes the user experience by implementing an intuitive flow similar to conventional map software. Features are integrated and highlighted considering their usability and relevance.
The tool was/is developed in a co-creative environment with a diverse group of users (e.g. architects, urban and transport planners, members of NGOs). Their rich and real-world expertise was decisive when developing a user-centric solution. In an iterative cycle of development and workshops, the users tested the application and reported their feedback in discussions and surveys. This collaborative development path is being continued for all new features that will be developed in the future. Due to its open-source nature, the tool can furthermore be extended and customized to specific needs.
Key objectives for inclusion
Our activities foster inclusion on different levels. As an accessibility instrument, the primary aim of GOAT is to measure how balanced opportunities are distributed in space. In particular, analyses are done for different user groups (e.g. elderly and wheelchair users). This allows for instance to visualize the number of pharmacies, that is accessible for a person in a wheelchair or highlight vulnerable neighborhoods, that are particularly affected by the closure of nearby grocery shops. Also, accessibility for marginalized population groups (e.g. low income) can be visualized and strategies can be evaluated to overcome shortcomings.
With a safe-night routing mode (only includes illuminated paths) areas can be highlighted that are potentially dangerous at morning/night in particular for vulnerable user groups (e.g. children, women). With the holistic walkability indicator, the wide range of indicators does in particular highlight risks (e.g. no sidewalks) for persons with reduced mobility. Besides objective criteria (e.g. slopes of the path, width of the sidewalk), also perceived criteria (e.g. livability of an area, presence of vegetation) are implemented to measure the attractiveness of a street.
To trigger change the easy-to-use interface facilitates a very large group of people to use an evidence-based planning instrument. This opens a wide area for GOAT to be used as a collaborative tool in the inclusive planning process together with e.g. planning professionals, citizens and politicians. Many workshops in which the tool was tested showed that this bears a high potential for more effective planning.
Furthermore, GOAT is developed as an open-source project and there are several live versions available on our website in an open-access way. From our understanding, this is essential to provide transparency and bring the tool to as many municipalities as possible.
Innovative character
There is generally high awareness of the interrelations between transport, land use and the environment and cities worldwide are striving to strengthen these modes of transport, and the need for evidence-based support in planning processes is enormous. But there are only very limited planning tools available in practice that allow a quantitative assessment of the qualities of walking and cycling, as well as local supply.
For this purpose, GOAT was initiated more than three years ago within the Master Thesis of Elias Pajares at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and later continued as a research project also in the free time of the team. The main team working together on the development of GOAT consists of Elias Pajares, Ulrike Jehle and Majk Shkurti, who are a young group of environmental engineers and geospatial software developers.
In close collaboration with interdisciplinary practitioners, the tool has been tested over the past years and is currently being used in practice in several municipalities. At present, the tool is online for five cities and has already been transferred to a total of over 30 study areas in Europe (e.g. Matosinhos – Portugal) and worldwide (e.g. Bogotá - Columbia).
GOAT is so far unique, since neither a digital planning tool exists, which offers a comparable set of functionalities, nor one which can be operated by non-experts without further ado. To further push the development of GOAT and bringing this open, innovative tool into practice, the team (besides their employment at TUM) founded the start-up Plan4Better. By leveraging existing data and bringing it together in powerful visual analyses, many different users - planners, decision makers, as well as citizens - will benefit. With GOAT, planning tools become more affordable and planning tasks easier and more efficient to accomplish. As a result, this will lead to more livable cities and a sustainable future which can be seen as a win-win situation for everyone.
