Table of Contents
The GeoIKP Platform
What does GeoIKP mean?
GeoIKP stands for Geospatial Information Knowledge Platform and serves as a hub for sharing knowledge on Nature-based Solutions (NBS).
What are Nature-based Solutions?
Nature-based Solutions are solutions inspired and supported by nature, which are cost-effective, simultaneously provide environmental, social and economic benefits and help build resilience.
Who is behind the GeoIKP?
The GeoIKP was developed within the H2020 OPERANDUM project.
First Navigation
What does this platform have to offer?
On the GeoIKP, you can find examples, statistics, and much more on Nature-based Solutions!
Register & Sign-in
Do I need to register and log in to use the platform?
Actually, you don’t need to! But you can get more benefits and features when you do! For example, you can review your added content. It’s getting complicated? First start browsing the platform and think about registering later!
If you decide to register, simply click on the button in the top right corner and sign up:
Step 1: Sign up
Enter your details and click on the ‘Register’ button.
Step 2: Sign in
Log in with your email address and password
NBS Case Studies
Browse Nature-based Solutions around the world!
Where do all these Nature-based Solution case studies come from?
The case studies are all crowdsourced - meaning that any user can add case studies to the NBS Case Studies! Are you aware of any Nature-based Solutions in your area? You can add them to the catalogue by using the tool: Resources → Add your NBS Case Study. Here you can find more guidance on the Add your NBS Case Study.
How do you make sure the case studies are of good quality?
All entered Nature-based Solutions are reviewed by OPERANDUM experts. You can see in the top right corner of each solution whether they are reviewed or pending review (see image below).
Search and filter the Nature-based Solutions for your needs!
The blue search bar offers to search for and filter Nature-based Solutions.
1. Type your keywords in the search field or select filters for a specific Nature-based Solution Type or Hazard (if you click on the two arrows, you will get more filter options).
2. Select your choice and press the search button.
3. The results will be shown on the map and listed underneath the map.
What do these filters mean?
→ Hazard: hydrometeorological hazards (e.g., flood & drought).
→ Ecosystem: local landscapes (e.g., forest).
→ Policy Level: the level where policies influence the implementation (e.g., local or global).
→ NBS Approach: the degree of intervention in nature (e.g., conservation, management).
→ NBS Type: The actual NBS that was chosen to be implemented (e.g., green roof).
→ Global Challenge: the SDG targets the NBS is tackling (e.g., water management).
Can I share a Nature-based Solution?
Yes, once you have clicked on one Nature-based Solution and you see more information, you find share buttons under the table of content on the left side (see image below). Simply select the social media channel or only ‘Copy NBS link’ and share the solution with your peer!
Can I print the information?
Yes, underneath the share button you find a Print NBS information button which creates a .pdf version for you!
Best Practices
What are Best Practices?
Best Practices are selected esxamples from Nature-based Solutions that were tested in projects. Here, you can find more detailed information location, problems, and how Nature-based Solutions are implemented to solve these problems.
Citizen Stories
How do citizens deal with hazards in their area?
Learn about citizens and associations starting their projects, which challenges they faced, and which solutions they found:
NBS Toolkit
What does this toolkit offer?
This NBS Toolkit suggests you Nature-based Solutions that could be suitable for your area.
These 5 steps (image below) will guide you through the NBS Toolkit. You can always go back by clicking on the buttons.
Step 1 (criteria):
All you need to do is to set the 'criteria':
1. select one hazard
2. an area of your interest, and
3. click ‘Analysis’
Step 2 (interventions):
After clicking on Analysis, you will a list of suitable solutions. Here, you can either
1. make a quick check of the NBS,
2. check the NBS in more detail, or
3. compare an NBS with other NBS.
Step 3 (compare):
You have selected 2 to 5 Nature-based Solutions? Compare them by clicking on the compare button (see image below) which appears in the middle at the bottom of the page after adding at least one Nature-based Solution to compare.
After clicking on this orange button, you will get to a page where you can see all selected Nature-based Solutions.
Step 4 (future):
This step is still under development and will be available soon.
Step 5 (co-creation):
Now, you have selected one or more Nature-based Solutions which could suitable for your area and you have explored how the hazard might change in the future (Step 4); thus, the final step is to actually start designing and planning the solution. In this co-creation step, you can explore furture steps to do to get started with your Nature-based Solution project.
Note: This tool is a prototype and will experience further development in the near future.
Map
Are you looking for information on an area of your interest? For example, which soils are there?
This interactive map offers you a lot of maps to explore! Compare different maps to see whether the are is suitable for your Nature-based Solution. Below you can see the main functions of this interactive map:
Actions:
What is the layer manager?
It is the place where you can get information about the layers or where you can change settings (e.g., change the opacity). Have a look at the figure below to see which buttons do what:
By clicking on the tool wheel, you get more information and tools for managing one map. Here, you can change the transparency of a map to see two overlaying maps at a time, you can remove maps, you can get more information on the map and see the legend.
Do you want to know how many people live in 1 km2 in your street or get other information?
1. Simply click on the point of your interest on the map and you will get the values of all maps that you can see on the interface. You can also click on the Nature-based Solution location icons to get more information.
2. After selecting a point of your interest, a window will pop up presenting you the information of the point of interest (see image below).
Note: that this tool provides you information on all visible maps. (In the above example, only the population density map is visible.
Step 1: Zoom in to the location of your interest
Go to Map. At first glance you see a map with colorful icons which represent the Nature-based Solutions that are available in the NBS Case Studies. Locate to Mariehamn to find the Nature-based Solution.
You can see the Nature-based Solution marked with a yellow icon.
Step 2: Organize your maps
On the left side of the map, you can see which maps are currently visible ('NBS categorized by hazard categories' and ‘Open-Air Laboratories’). You don’t need the second map (‘Open-Air Laboratories’) for this; thus, you can remove it by clicking on the wheel next to it and then on ‘Delete the layer from the map’.
Step 3: Add more maps to the interface
Now, you want to add the land cover map: Click on ‘Add predefined layer to the map’ and navigate via ‘Land cover/land use’ > ‘Ecosystem’ to ‘Land cover (2018shp)’. To add the map to the interface, click on it and the font will turn into a light blue color and the map will load in the interface.
Note: for some maps the loading time is a bit longer.
Go back to the initial view by clicking on the icon in the blue bar where is written 'Layer'.
Step 4: Manage the maps
Now, you have the issue that the new map is covering the icon for the Nature-based Solution. Click and hold the arrow next to the wheel. Move the land cover map under the NBS map by moving it downwards.
In the last step, you would like to make the Land Cover map a bit transparent so that the road names are visible. To make the map more transparent, click on the wheel button, and adjust the opacity.
Policy Finder
Are you looking for policies related to flooding? Or other policies?
Here, you can browse more than 2000 policy documents (maily from Europe)! To find policies faster, you can search by country, by key word, or set filters:
Action:
What does the Policy Catalogue has to offer?
→ you can open the policy document directly
→ it shows you a selection of similar policies
→ it presents you which NBS case studies (from the NBS Catalogue) are linked to this policy document
Permitting Paths
What is a permitting path?
A Permitting Path is a path from planning a Nature-based Solution and reviewing all policies and legislations that need to be taken into account until the official permission to implement the planned Nature-based Solution.
What does this tool offer?
We have analysed different permitting paths from Nature-based Solutions in Europe and summarised them in a more general permitting path. The permitting path is always different depending on the country, Nature-based Solutions, etc. but you here we have summarised the main policies that you might need to consider for your Nature-based Solution project. Main policies can be related to:
→ Environmental legislation
→ Hazard and ecosystem legislation
→ Administrative legislation
→ Building & Landscape legislation
Check out how a permitting path could look like?
Simply select an OPERANDUM case study (so-called OAL) from the drop-down menu and browse through the different legislations:
Note: permitting paths vary greatly depending on the country, the Nature-based Solution to be implemented and the area you want to implement it. Therefore, the examples cannot provide you a step by step guide but rather an overview on what might need to be considered.
Data Catalogue
The Data Catalogue encompasses data that are related to Nature-based Solutions, such as hazard and risk data, Nature-based Solution monitoring data and local characteristics (e.g., land cover). Available data ranges from local to global level and any type of data (e.g., observation, spatial data or pdf). Here, you can browse through all collected datasets. It is possible to search by key word or to filter on the left-hand side. Click on a dataset of your interest and explore or download it.
You can add and share your own data which will enable others to find relevant data and support their Nature-based Solution project.
Actions:
Register
You can register by clicking on ‘Register’ in the top menu. Registration is necessary to upload, store, organize, and share data. After registration you will be allocated to your organization (which can take a few hours). This allows to share datasets within your organization. To create a user ID, the following information will be asked for:
Username: a username can contain only letters, numbers, - and _ characters. For example, “operandumuser” or “operandum_user123”;
Full name: to be displayed on the user profile;
Email address: this will not be visible to other users;
Password: the same password has to be entered in both boxes (password and confirm).
Login
The login can be reached from the top menu. Enter your username and password to login.
Uploaded Datasets can be browsed in different ways:
Browse all: by clicking on ‘Datasets’ all publicly available data will be listed. After logging in, also data of your organization will be listed.
Search datasets by free text search.
Browse by groups: main groups are listed on the bottom of the website and can be also accessed from the top menu.
Browse by organizations: by clicking on Organizations on the top menu all organizations will be listed. By clicking on one of them, all openly accessible datasets will be listed.
Filter datasets: In the dataset menu, it is possible to filter datasets by location (from the map), organizations, groups, tags, format, licenses, others (based on available metadata).
Data can be added via the ‘Datasets’ page by clicking on ‘Add Dataset’. Adding datasets encompasses filling all relevant metadata information which are based on European legislations and principles.
To add your data:
Log in;
complete the list of metadata;
click on save dataset and add data;
add the actual dataset by clicking the button add data and either upload a file or provide the link to the dataset; and
save.
You can edit the dataset that you or a member of your organization have created. In order to edit existing datasets:
select the dataset;
click on the ‘Manage’ button, which is placed above the dataset title;
then the ‘Edit dataset’ view is displayed where you can edit any metadata field or you can manage (add, delete) files within the dataset; and
save your edits.
Add your NBS Case Study
Do you know any existing Nature-based Solutions?
Yes, then share it with the community by adding it to the NBS Catalogue:
Go step-by-step through this form (image below) and fill as much information as you know. Fields marked with an * are mandatory to be filled.
Note: You can add Nature-based Solutions without being logged in on the platform. However, only if you register aand are logged in, you can edit your added Nature-based Solutions after saving.
You can always cancel the entry.
You can always save your draft and continue later (when logged in).
Once you have filled in all required information, you can
Save your NBS;
Save your NBS and add policies that were influencing the implementation of the NBS; or
Save and add datasets presenting the NBS or that you used/produced for pre-assessment, monitoring, or evaluation.
After saving your NBS, the NBS will be reviewed before publishing it in the collection. This process can take several days.
Actions:
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Send us an email: info[at]kajoservices.com
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