WiesnWanderer – Your guide to Urban Nature
“As urban spaces grow and take over nature, WiesnWanderer brings nature back to the center of the city - and of the map.”
What it is about
WiesnWanderer brings nature back to the city, by offering a multifaceted guide to Munich’s tourists and residents. Firstly, it provides a centralized, easy-to-use platform that highlights some of Munich's parks, walking trails, biodiversity hotspots, and eco-friendly businesses. Secondly, by educating users on Munich’s flora and fauna, it encourages a conscious exploration of the city’s outdoors. Finally, a third function enhances interactivity and the self-sustaining of the platform, by enabling users to send their own recommendations, including green spaces, sustainable commerce and cafés, routes and more. This opens up the dialogue and makes WiesnWanderer a prototype that can be expanded into a larger community of city-based nature-lovers across geographies in Europe and beyond.
How we built it
Our workflow was divided into four phases.
First, we focused on collecting the data on fauna and flora in Munich, as well as a series of educational fun facts. This was a fundamental baseline to use as the foundation of the project and assess its potential scope. We collected data from the GBIF database, from Google My Maps and by reading original resources by the Munich city authority.
→ Tools used in this phase: Excel, qualitative coding, database querying.
First, we focused on collecting the data on fauna and flora in Munich, as well as a series of educational fun facts. This was a fundamental baseline to use as the foundation of the project and assess its potential scope. We collected data from the GBIF database, from Google My Maps and by reading original resources by the Munich city authority.
→ Tools used in this phase: Excel, qualitative coding, database querying.
Second, we created a basic version of the platform and created the infrastructure to host our data to fulfill the three functions of the project (interactive-static map, interactive-dynamic map and community feature).
→ Tools used in this phase: Glitch, Leaflet, HTML + JS
Third, we worked on designing the visualization of our data - this includes the basemaps, the icons, legends, and the overall aesthetic identity of the platform.
→ Tools used in this phase: Pixelmator Pro, Mapbox, CSS, Canva
Finally, we worked on the implementation and the refinement of all our website’s functions, focusing on the dynamic map, the responsive designs, the UX and interactivity.
→ Tools used in this phase: Mapbox, JS, Typeform
Challenges we ran into
We encountered some technical challenges dictated by our limited experience with coding. This meant we had to rely much more on third-party integrations (Leaflet and Mapbox), which constrained our freedom in choosing our own projection or our own basemap.
What we're proud of
The logical and organisational structure of the project was optimal. We started small, and built from the foundation upwards. This gave us great clarity and control over our timeline and would allow us to expand the scope of the project with more time.
We were also able to create an extended database by integrating multiple resources (written/qualitative, quantitative, …), in a way realising a parallel resource that could be useful for scopes other than our project.
What we learned
We had to teach ourselves many things for this project, for instance how to work with HTML and JS to create a website, how to use Mapbox to style a basemap and layers (which appear in the dynamic map), how to work with GeoJson files and plugin integrations for web-mapping. We also improved our time- and project management skills, teamwork and communication.
What's next
Our project exists at the intersection of a guide, a community and a data resource. It would be possible to expand it in all three directions, by extending it to other cities and constantly adding more resources to the map (this is also the point of the “Recommendations” feature). In a way, it also constitutes a database for various forms of data on fauna and flora in the city (VGI, qualitative information turned into geolocated observations and quantitative data). This could be a useful resource for the Munich city, and could also be expanded and extended to other geographies, to make the monitoring of nature within city borders a community project.
Sources
Making Nature’s City. Overview. Retrieved from https://www.makingnaturescity.org/overview/
Stadt München, Landeshauptstadt München (Referat für Klima- und Umweltschutz) (2023). Biodiversität Broschüre [PDF document]. Retrieved from https://stadt.muenchen.de/dam/jcr:8582997c-a994-4921-a737-56ea3e0e7b95/2308_Broschure_Biodiversitaet_4.pdf
Stadt München, Landeshauptstadt München (Referat für Klima- und Umweltschutz) . Naturdenkmal-Booklet https://stadt.muenchen.de/infos/schutzgebiete-muenchen.html
Urban Waters, Forschungsverbund Urbane Wässer. Isar-Plan. Retrieved from https://urban-waters.org/de/projekte/isar-plan
Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns. Botanischer Garten, München-Nymphenburg. Retrieved from https://botmuc.snsb.de/
Stadt München, Landeshauptstadt München (Referat für Klima- und Umweltschutz) (2023). Biodiversität Broschüre [PDF document]. Retrieved from https://stadt.muenchen.de/dam/jcr:8582997c-a994-4921-a737-56ea3e0e7b95/2308_Broschure_Biodiversitaet_4.pdf
Stadt München, Landeshauptstadt München (Referat für Klima- und Umweltschutz) . Naturdenkmal-Booklet https://stadt.muenchen.de/infos/schutzgebiete-muenchen.html
Urban Waters, Forschungsverbund Urbane Wässer. Isar-Plan. Retrieved from https://urban-waters.org/de/projekte/isar-plan
Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns. Botanischer Garten, München-Nymphenburg. Retrieved from https://botmuc.snsb.de/
City of Munich, Bund Naturschutz in Bayern. Münchens Fauna. Retrieved from https://stadt.muenchen.de/infos/muenchens-fauna.html
City of Munich, Bund Naturschutz in Bayern. Käfer in München. Retrieved from https://stadt.muenchen.de/dam/jcr:d5229da9-d9ab-467e-80dd-6ada25c12332/Kaefer-Broschuere.pdf
City of Munich, Bund Naturschutz in Bayern. Tagfalter in München. Retrieved from https://stadt.muenchen.de/dam/jcr:25b57353-04a3-4af1-8555-bd9474c274bb/Flyer%20Tagfalter.pdf
City of Munich, Bund Naturschutz in Bayern. Libellen in München. Retrieved from https://stadt.muenchen.de/dam/jcr:eb019d87-796e-47e4-aed6-2a5042430228/Flyer%20Libellen%20.pdf
City of Munich, Bund Naturschutz in Bayern. Heuschrecken in München. Retrieved from https://stadt.muenchen.de/dam/jcr:0b4c10d1-dafb-4fa4-b547-c6d1a76de947/Flyer%20Heuschrecke.pdf
City of Munich, Bund Naturschutz in Bayern. Bienen und Wespen in München. Retrieved from https://stadt.muenchen.de/dam/jcr:244e3d23-384b-4e33-bad4-4b15cab32259/Flyer%20Bienen%20und%20Wespen.pdf
City of Munich, Bund Naturschutz in Bayern. Fische in München. Retrieved from https://stadt.muenchen.de/dam/jcr:adc230dd-cd81-4390-99ce-b60ee6d4cd87/fische_in_muenchen_2014_web.pdf
City of Munich, Landesbund für Vogelschutz in Bayern e.V. . Münchens Flora. Retrieved from https://stadt.muenchen.de/infos/muenchens-flora.html Mapbox. (2019). How to build a “scrollytelling” map. Retrieved from https://blog.mapbox.com/how-to-build-a-scrollytelling-map-ead6baf2cd1b
City of Munich, Bund Naturschutz in Bayern. Käfer in München. Retrieved from https://stadt.muenchen.de/dam/jcr:d5229da9-d9ab-467e-80dd-6ada25c12332/Kaefer-Broschuere.pdf
City of Munich, Bund Naturschutz in Bayern. Tagfalter in München. Retrieved from https://stadt.muenchen.de/dam/jcr:25b57353-04a3-4af1-8555-bd9474c274bb/Flyer%20Tagfalter.pdf
City of Munich, Bund Naturschutz in Bayern. Libellen in München. Retrieved from https://stadt.muenchen.de/dam/jcr:eb019d87-796e-47e4-aed6-2a5042430228/Flyer%20Libellen%20.pdf
City of Munich, Bund Naturschutz in Bayern. Heuschrecken in München. Retrieved from https://stadt.muenchen.de/dam/jcr:0b4c10d1-dafb-4fa4-b547-c6d1a76de947/Flyer%20Heuschrecke.pdf
City of Munich, Bund Naturschutz in Bayern. Bienen und Wespen in München. Retrieved from https://stadt.muenchen.de/dam/jcr:244e3d23-384b-4e33-bad4-4b15cab32259/Flyer%20Bienen%20und%20Wespen.pdf
City of Munich, Bund Naturschutz in Bayern. Fische in München. Retrieved from https://stadt.muenchen.de/dam/jcr:adc230dd-cd81-4390-99ce-b60ee6d4cd87/fische_in_muenchen_2014_web.pdf
City of Munich, Landesbund für Vogelschutz in Bayern e.V. . Münchens Flora. Retrieved from https://stadt.muenchen.de/infos/muenchens-flora.html Mapbox. (2019). How to build a “scrollytelling” map. Retrieved from https://blog.mapbox.com/how-to-build-a-scrollytelling-map-ead6baf2cd1b
Students
Federica Ballardini and Gabriela Spriestersbach
14th intake
Supervisor
Juliane Cron, M.Sc.
Keywords
Biodiversity, Nature Based Solutions, Ecology