{"id":4325,"date":"2025-09-03T09:55:59","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T07:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crowd-in-motion.eu\/praxisbeispiele\/digital-ranger-app\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T10:01:55","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T08:01:55","slug":"digital-ranger-app","status":"publish","type":"examples","link":"https:\/\/www.crowd-in-motion.eu\/en\/praxisbeispiele\/digital-ranger-app\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital Ranger App"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Customer<\/strong><\/span>: Naturpark Karwendel<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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CiMo Partner<\/span><\/strong>: Fablab Tirol<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

Challenge<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

The Karwendel Nature Park covers almost the entire Karwendel massif and the Arnspitze nature reserve. With an area of 739 km\u00b2, the park is not only the largest Tyrolean protected area, but also the largest nature park in Austria. Due to its topography, the nature park has an above-average proportion of natural habitats such as primeval forests and wild rivers. Similarly, the park is home to a high number of animal and plant species that are important throughout Europe, such as golden eagles, white-backed woodpeckers and lady’s slippers. <\/p>\n\n

The Karwendel Nature Park is well known for being active in the areas of “Nature Conservation”, “Recreation & Tourism”, “Environmental Education”, “Knowledge & Research” and “Regional Development”. What\u2019s more, the park has received the prestigious “Nature Park of the Year 2020” award from the Association of Austrian Nature Parks. <\/p>\n\n

Digitalisation often offers many advantages; however, it can also bring new challenges. In the case of Karwendel Nature Park, a viral video can quickly become a problem, attracting many hiking enthusiasts to new trails they have discovered on a tour portal. Because of the rapid spread of “insider tips” on the Internet, dangerous terrain or quiet areas for rare animal and plant species are increasingly visited by numerous people. In the Karwendel Nature Park, visitor guidance is therefore becoming increasingly digital \u2013 away from information boards and trail markings, it is also important to be more active on the Internet. As such, the nature park aims to develop a comprehensive digitalisation programme. <\/p>\n\n

As part of its initiative, the park aims to address a key challenge in all Tyrolean nature parks, regulating visitors\u2019 numbers. Thousands of locals and guests relax in Tyrolean nature and must be guided accordingly so that the interests of nature conservation, tourism and leisure remain in harmony. <\/p>\n\n

Methods<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Step 1: March 2023 \u2013 Fablab.Tirol EDIH Service \u201cDesign Sprint\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

In order to define the specifications of a \u201cdigital tool\u201d that could improve the rangers work, increase efficiency and redirect resources to critical tasks, the EDIH decided to organise a Design Sprint<\/strong>. The aim was to form the basis for a funding application (technology funding from the state of Tyrol), which could enable implementation. Therefore, together with members of the Karwendel Nature Park-team, the following challenge statement<\/strong> for the 4-day design sprint was defined: <\/p>\n\n

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“How can we improve the efficiency of field work in the Karwendel Nature Park (visitor guidance, monitoring, maintenance, biotope maintenance) for rangers and the protected area management, the regional actors (e.g. municipalities), and the interest groups (visitors, etc.), by developing a digital solution with a focus on the content requirements (within the team and together with experts), to not only improve communication and workflows, but also create added value for the most important stakeholders (rangers, nature, regional actors and visitors) – which meets the increased need for recreation and nature conservation.”<\/p>\n\n

Consequently, in order to develop the required solution, the EDIH established a series of services and projects. The process consisted of the following steps: <\/p>\n\n

Exploration & Mapping<\/strong><\/p>\n\n