Thorsten

Digitize the Planet e. V. | Digitization of rules and protection purposes as a basis for functioning digital activity management in nature and landscape

Tasks and goals
Digitize the Planet e. V. (DtP) offers a solution to a pressing problem: digital services and user-generated con-tent are increasingly controlling leisure behavior, but do not take into account the applicable rules and their principles. Digital systems have not yet been able to do this because the rules for the use of nature and lands-cape, e.g. protected area regulations, are available as documents on various servers of the responsible authori-ties, are not machine-readable in relation to areas and paths.
DtP collects the valid rules, laws and protection purposes for the use of nature in Germany, Austria and Switzer-land, and increasingly also internationally. These are structured and digitized by DtP in order to display them on maps and make them available free of charge as open data. A platform specially developed by DtP enables the responsible managers of protected areas to enter data directly and easily. The system is based on a geodata-base that maps all aspects of protected area information, such as rules, zoning, seasonal and weather-related restrictions and conservation purposes with extended information on flora, fauna and habitats related to out-door activities.
The machine-readable data generated by DtP is the prerequisite for digital (automated) systems to be able to take into account the applicable rules and laws and to be able to present users with justifications and relevant information about nature. All digital services, e.g. tour portals and navigation services, can integrate this data into their systems free of charge. This way, data is taken into account when making route recommendations and potentially illegal activities can be suppressed.

State of affairs
The members of DtP, including destinations, protected areas and administrations as well as companies and associations from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Slovenia, form a multifaceted partner network for an exchange and thus also our basis for shaping the future work of the association. DtP attaches great im-portance to taking into account the needs and requirements of public institutions and administrations, with the offers and communication channels of civil society institutions and companies. Regular events such as the Dgi-tize Dialog and various webinars promote the exchange and expansion of the network.

After around 3 years of intensive development work and coordination with pilot regions and partners, DtP has launched the operational use of the platform in 2023. At https://content.digitizetheplanet.org/en/protected_areas/ we already have over 5300 digitized protected areas in Europe. These protected areas and their information are already fully used and integrated in platforms and other data hubs. Outdoor activists can access and use the protected area information as early as the plan-ning stage.

The system allows verified users from administrations to record and digitally manage rules for protected areas. The platform application was developed together with pilot partners from the world of protected areas and adapted to their needs and special skills. The application is intuitively designed and does not require in-depth IT knowledge. Protected areas and their rules can be viewed on the association’s website and are made freely available: Discover protected areas | Digitize the Planet Platform

In addition to operating and developing the DtP platform, Digitize the Planet is an active competence partner for events and projects. The association is a frequent partner when it comes to digital activity management and works together with the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BFN) and other ministries. In addition, the association does important work in communication with OpenStreetMap and public authorities and is itself working on technical solutions for the accurate mapping of nature conservation information in the OpenSt-reetMap database, which is considered one of the most important foundations for tour platforms and naviga-tion services.