Maptionnaire has been awarded the ProGIS Honorary Mention in the Field of Geospatial Information at the GeoForum Summit 2024, the largest annual GIS event in Finland. Each year, the ProGIS organization recognizes an individual, community, or company that has enhanced the visibility of the spatial information field and promotes the use of spatial data through their work or innovation.
Why Was Maptionnaire Selected?
Pyry Kettunen, chair of ProGIS organization, highlighted in his speech the reasons for choosing Maptionnaire for this recognition:
- The platform enables urban planners, municipal experts, and researchers to collect map-based data about people’s perceptions and experiences of spaces.
- The research-based SoftGIS approach adds a geographical dimension to decision-making processes involving participation in planning.
- The user-friendly and flexible Maptionnaire platform has earned a reputation both nationally and internationally for its adaptability to different contexts.
Empowering Community-Driven Urban Planning
The Maptionnaire Community Engagement Platform was developed to allow urban planners to access insights that only local community members can provide. Browser-based interactive mapping enables community members to pinpoint specific areas of concern or interest, allowing planners to gather precise, location-based data. This approach expands community outreach beyond in-person meetings and helps to engage often-overlooked demographics, creating a more representative cross-section of the community.
Maptionnaire streamlines data analysis by turning communities’ opinions and experiences into precise maps and informative charts, providing planners with actionable insights into trends and critical areas. The intuitive, map-based interface facilitates clear communication, helping both community members and stakeholders understand and discuss proposed changes. Maptionnaire’s comprehensive project pages serve as a digital community hub, housing all essential information and ensuring that planners provide the context needed for informed decision-making while fostering ongoing dialogue beyond a single questionnaire.
What is the SoftGIS Methodology that Maptionnaire Uses?
The SoftGIS methodology combines subjective data—such as feelings, ideas, and experiences—with objective spatial data to create comprehensive datasets that support informed decision-making in planning.
Maptionnaire’s roots are in scientific research. Our founders, Anna Broberg and Maarit Kahila, were researchers in a team studying SoftGIS as a methodology at Aalto University in the 2000s when they came up with the idea of Maptionnaire. The platform’s GIS-based functionalities enable planners to turn community input into new data layers, bridging the gap between subjective perspectives and objective, location-specific data in their everyday work.
The Journey into a Globally Impactful Platform
Since its launch in 2011, Maptionnaire has been used in over 15,000 projects in more than 40 countries. Its international reach is based on a solid foundation in academic research and early adoption by urban planners. From a tiny company run by two academics on the side of their research, it has grown into an international team of 11 employees, aiming to establish Maptionnaire as the go-to community engagement tool in urban planning.
Receiving this recognition in the GIS field is a great honor for the Maptionnaire team. We thank all our users for embracing the value of SoftGIS in creating livable and lovable spaces!
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