Spatial and transport planning with geodata and digital tools - GOAT 3.0 project started

To design sustainable urban and transport planning, municipal authorities can make use of a wide range of formal and informal planning instruments, such as local transport plans, mobility concepts and urban land use planning. However, suitable digital tools and reliable data are also needed in order to design sustainable planning in an objective and evidence-based sound manner. After a first version of the digital accessibility tool for the planning of pedestrian and bicycle traffic has already been developed within the framework of the "GOAT 1.0" project, the tool is now to be extended to public transport and motorized individual transport (MIV), among others. Further functionalities are also to be added. GOAT is thus to become a fully comprehensive, digital planning tool.

The focus is primarily on planning neighbourhood mobility (15-minute city), green space planning and public transport planning. GOAT 3.0 should make it possible, for example, to assess the accessibility of high-quality green spaces using suitable indicators and to identify gaps in supply. For this purpose, open and freely available data will be used primarily. They will be combined and enhanced within the project. By developing interactive scenarios, planners will also be able to better assess future developments as well as existing and proposed plans.

The involvement of partners from planning practice in a co-creative development process is of particular importance for the project. Here, the five project partners are supported in particular by associated partners from three pilot regions (Rhine-Neckar, Munich and Upper Lusatia) and the city of Bonn. In addition, the public is also involved through workshops and community walks in the pilot regions as well as in the context of a nationwide survey.

The IOER will support the development of indicators and the geodata analysis, it will also take the lead in piloting the software to be developed. With its strong links to planning practice, the IOER will act as an interface between the IT developers and the practical users in the project and accompany the transdisciplinary research process. The goal is to integrate scientific and practical knowledge for the development of GOAT 3.0.

The main result of the project will be the release of the GOAT 3.0 software and associated training materials (including a website and manual). While maintaining the open-source idea, the software will then be continuously developed by Plan4Better GmbH and offered as a software-as-a-service. In addition, the refined data sets will be made publicly available, thus enabling a wide range of people to use high-quality data. The aim is also to integrate the results into the research data infrastructure "Monitor of Settlement and Open Space Development (IOER Monitor)" of the IOER.

In addition to the Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IOER), the project partners are the Technical University of Munich, Plan4Better GmbH, Prof. Schaller Umwelt Consult GmbH and Münchner Verkehrs- und Tarifverbund GmbH. The project "GOAT 3.0" with a total volume of 1,039,142 Euro is funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) as part of the mFUND innovation initiative.

More information on the project website
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Contact at IÖR
Dr.-Ing. Robert Hecht, E-Mail: R.Hechtioer@ioer.de