ISCN Global Mixer: XPlanung - a data standard for interoperable urban planning processes

The challenge is to change a centuries-old common data standard: Paper. This is how Ken Gericke from the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport primed the audience in this ISCN Global Mixer on the undertaking of setting up XPlanung, a standardized digital data format for exchanging plans across planning levels and between stakeholders.

The result today is an XML-based data exchange format based on Geography Markup Language Version 3 (GML 3.2.2), the extensible standard for spatial data developed by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and ISO TC211. (See also central office for XPlanung at xleitstelle.de) 

The two core benefits of having XPlanung and accordingly adjusted Geoportals and digitally visualized presentations of planning maps: First, it enables further civic participation and interaction on planning projects, as access in digital form is broader. Second, it boosts the local economy as the assessments of potential developments and investments are more streamlined and can be cleared more swiftly. An illustrative example of that is the Gigafactory of Tesla, a big carmaker, that was built in Grünheide, Germany. It is said that the standardized digital representation of the planning map in the area in a Geoportal facilitated the assessments of the project by corporate decisionmakers.

But addressing common misconceptions, Ken Gericke also stressed what XPlanung is not (yet). It is not a software application, nor a replacement or alteration of building codes. It is also not a replacement of legally binding planning documents in Germany. 

Nonetheless, the next ambitions are to link XPlanung, XBau (a machine-readable communication standard for construction oversight) and BIM applications into one portal for planning data in Germany.

Have a look for yourself in the recording of the presentation above.