This thesis evaluates the presence and implications of gender-blindness in the design of campus maps at five Dutch universities. Through a combination of literature review and case study analysis, the research explores how feminist critiques of mapping practices — particularly the accusation that maps claim neutrality, unknowingly neglecting certain perspectives and user needs — apply to campus map design. The universities examined include Delft University of Technology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Wageningen University & Research, and Eindhoven University of Technology. The methodology involves qualitative interviews with map makers and a quantitative survey of campus users, combined with qualitative comments and follow-up interviews, offering insights into both the creation and evaluation of the maps. The findings suggest that a lack of awareness of gender-related issues, along with limited incorporation of diverse perspectives and technical constraints, may result in the neglect of the needs of different campus users. However, the potential negative consequences this has on (spatial) inequalities on campus seems limited, as campus users appear not to be frequent campus map users.

There is a drive to create an inclusive open data ecosystem, that includes public, private and academic open data [Loenen et al., 2021]. There is a lot of existing research in Open Government Data [Janssen et al., 2012; van Panhuis et al., 2014; Martin et al., 2013] and plethora of OGD in the Netherlands. Although the private sector produces a lot of data, those are not open, as they are not participating in data sharing. In order, to fill the existing data gap, that OGD create, the EU [Commission, 2018], specifically with the Open Data Directive, started to promote more openness in private sector data, especially geospatial data. So far this, it is only done for public undertakings, as a sector in between public and private Boone and van Loenen [2022]; van Veenstra and van den Broek [2013]. The private sector is not bounded by legislation to share their geospatial data.

This research aims to identify what are the challenges to arrive at an ecosystem with more open private sector data, through the identification of the barriers in the process, in relation to the level of openness they are and how to move forward. Five categories of barriers are identified, strategic, technical, legal, economic, cultural and a multi model with 4 levels of openness is used, to identify the current state of geospatial data sharing of 9 companies in the Netherlands. The results show that companies that are providers of data are mostly sharing internally, trying to share with external users, while companies that are intermediaries are mostly sharing with some external users but they are not sharing fully open data yet, and the companies as user of existing open data are difficult to identify. This research demonstrates the influence of the role of the company in data sharing and the level of dataset, project, department in the barriers that the private sector faces and prevent them from sharing geospatial data in the Netherlands.

After a large reorganisation within the police organisation, due to the formation of the Dutch National Police, the demand for real estate for the police is greatly reduced. Additionally, the requirements for the buildings are also changing. Therefore, in the upcoming years, about 700.000 square meters of police real estate will lose its function. During this graduation process, the possibilities for adaptive reuse for one of these police buildings, Huis ‘t Velde in Warnsveld, have been researched.

In order to work with Huis ‘t Velde, it was necessary to have a look at another group of buildings as well, besides the police buildings, namely country houses. A lot of country houses have lost their function as a private home during the course of the 20th century, among others because of the rising costs of maintenance of these relatively large buildings, and the surrounding estates. This makes the research and design for the adaptive reuse of Huis ‘t Velde even more relevant, since the findings might also be helpful for other country houses.
Most of the country houses have shown a strong development over time. They have different time layers, and each time layer has it’s own story. But nowadays most users aren’t aware of this. This led to the following research and design question: How can the architect integrate the stories behind the layers of time in Huis ‘t Velde in the adaptive redesign process in order to make these stories experienceable for future users?

In the research, 3 cases studies were researched, among others via a analysis matrix. From this, 3 main strategy’s of dealing with these time layers in the adaptive redesign process were found. But, an additional conclusion was that these 3 strategies were never used on their own, but in combination.

Therefore, in the design, different combinations were tested until a fitting combination was found for Huis ‘t Velde. An addition has been designed to the building as a new time layer. In the existing building parts, the most important, characteristic time layers were either conserved or reconstructed.

In this master thesis project is the topic sustainability in relation to the repurposing of Dutch (rural) estates investigated. Making an estate more sustainable has been researched on the basis of two redesign theories and several case studies. The research question was: ‘how can design approaches help in a contemporary reuse and redesign of a Dutch estate where both building, and nature, contribute to a sustainable design, and in particular for Huis ‘t Velde in Warnsveld?’. This research was conducted in response to the design assignment for the reuse of an estate in Warnsveld, Gelderland. This is done in collaboration with the Dutch Atelier Politie Bouwmeester, who is the current user of the building. The history and values of the existing building are relevant for a redesign. That is why also the history and typology of Dutch estates and in particular Huis 't Velde are examined.

The redesign focused on a repurpose of the monumental buildings and the surrounding area. There is a multifunctional design made with a museum, restaurant, memorial garden and residences. The redesign of the estate is done with an integral approach combining the qualities of the land and the buildings together with the aim to integrate green energy resources to make the estate sustainable for the future.

In Nederland en in de stad Delft wordt geluidhinder door autowegen ervaren door bewoners. Dit kan leiden tot een verminderde gezondheid. Het doel van dit onderzoek is uitvinden waar de geluidsnorm wordt overschreden en hoe dit verminderd zou kunnen worden. Hiervoor is de volgende onderzoeksvraag opgesteld: Waar in Delft wordt de geluidsnorm voor verkeersgeluid overschreden, welke fysische factoren van de wegen hebben effect op de geluidsoverschrijding en welke maatregelen zouden genomen kunnen worden? Om deze vraag te beantwoorden is een literatuurstudie gedaan en een geodata-analyse uitgevoerd. De verkregen geodata is omgezet in kaarten, vervolgens zijn hier ruimtelijke analyses op uitgevoerd. De conclusie is dat het overgrote deel van de wegen een te hoge geluidsbelasting heeft. De maximale snelheid of het wegdek zou hiervoor kunnen worden aangepast.

With the Urban Heat Island Effect on the rise and 66% of the global population expected to live in the cities by 2050, new ways of building for this urban growth need to be researched. In this report the cooling effects of green and water structures on urban landscapes are examined. To realize this, we opted to recreate a 3D model of the chosen research area based on different
datasets. This can then be used in the simulation software ENVI-met to calculate the effect that these structures have on the microclimate. Firstly, we successfully made a 2D inventory based on the different components necessary to run the simulation.
Secondly, when converting from the 2D data to 3D data, errors occurred as regards to the tree and building datasets. Thirdly, the simulation failed due to a lack of interoperability between the datasets and softwares. Therefore, we are unable to answer the research question. However, after an in-depth assessment of the FAIRness of data, we conclude that by testing, failing and improving the
interoperability of datasets and softwares, we can change our perception of the data we collect and find new ways to store and visualize them.

In modern-day spatial planning, the implementation of public participation has increased to find a balance between two major actors: the government as the powerholder and citizens as the individual affected by planning decisions. Cities are required to redefine their public participation strategies by adopting modern tools to increase their citizen’s satisfaction regarding the spatial planning process. This challenge has made geographic information system (GIS) technologies invaluable to enhance the place-making process by allowing citizens to express their needs and preferences. On the other hand, developing GIS technology with design or hierarchy left unchecked, could cause usability problem to the user. GIS technology would end up running into an unnavigable ocean of buttons and maps, resulting in users can easily get lost and become frustrated. Therefore, User Experience (UX) can become integral for engaging users with spatial planning products and effectively meeting their aspirations. This thesis aims to develop a User Experience (UX) design guideline together with a mockup design and apply it as a web-based GIS prototype. The focus of the study will be on spatial planning practice in Indonesia. The User Experience (UX) design guideline named ’4PHASE toolkit’ was made with several design phases: Phase 1: Define, Phase 2: Design, Phase 3: Build, Phase 4: Test. The first phase is related to top-down studies about participation in spatial planning process both in general and case study, resulting with the Actor-Network (ANT) diagram for conceptualizing user roles, participation tasks, and space-time setting during the participation. The second phase is related to the design process of the UX starting from building persona, creating user flow, sketching wireframes, and designing interfaces - resulting with the proposed mockup of 4D Musrenbang. The third phase is the development of the prototype based on the mockup design using HTML, CSS, and Javascript to add functionalities to the web. At last, Phase 4 is testing the prototype with real actors who share similar traits with the Persona. Based on the user tests, the prototype itself is considered as good, with usability score of 71%. Overall, this thesis project has successfully created three main products: The 4PHASE toolkit, a mockup, and a geo-web prototype.

Nowadays, lots of geo-information (GI) is openly available. The value of this information lies in its use. Geoportals play an important part in allowing users to discover and access suitable data for their use cases. However, the user-friendliness of these geoportals is not as it should be. As the communicational layer between a system and its users, a more user-friendly UI can result in a more user-friendly geoportal. In an explorative research methodology involving a literature study into UIs and geoportals, assessing existing geoportals, and a user requirements session, I developed a guideline for user-friendly geoportal UIs: the Geoportal User-Interface Design Evaluator (GUIDE). The elements captured in the GUIDE cover the different parts of the UI: the content presentation, the interaction with available services (system interaction, navigation, search mechanisms, access mechanisms, and communication mechanisms) and the enabling information (metadata and help mechanisms). Concrete implementation examples of these design elements are provided by implementing a mock-up in accordance to the GUIDE. To assess whether or not the elements of the GUIDE result in an increase in user-friendliness, the results of a benchmark usability session are compared to the results achieved during a follow-up usability session with the mock-up. The tasks participants perform during these sessions are all related to the most important reasons why users would visit a geoportal: discovering data, assessing whether the discovered data is suitable for a specific use case, and accessing the data. The comparison of the results of the two usability studies suggests that the elements listed in the GUIDE as implemented in the mock-up indeed result in a more user-friendly geoportal UI. In the adopted usability metric that covered 128 fields related to performance and self-reported metrics, the mock-up outperformed the benchmark in 95 fields. This improvement is confirmed by qualitative comments of the six participants of the usability sessions and by experts of the Dutch geo-platform PDOK. Especially the increase in efficiency is appreciated. Based on the foundation the GUIDE and the corresponding mock-up provide, there is room for more in-depth research to further improve the user-friendliness of the UIs of geoportals. This, for example, involves looking into what communication mechanisms and help mechanisms, icons, terminology, or controls users prefer. Furthermore, additional research into the possibilities of adaptive UIs for geoportals can be valuable to suit possible differences in the needs and preferences of the different individual users.

Open dumping, open burning and burying of municipal solid waste (MSW) can be the cause environmental and public health issues. These practices are more prevalent in developing countries such as Mexico,where proper waste management systems are not present. Considering the environmental and health issues, it is therefore important to minimise the number of open dumps in Mexico. The construction ofsanitary landfills is regarded as the best alternative to open dumping since it is the a cost-effective and environmentally friendly solution.

An important part of constructing sanitary landfills is the selection of potential locations for these wastefacilities where investment will be made to build them. In order to select these locations first the weakspots need to be located. Weak spots are areas that do not have enough (proper) waste managementservices. Since Mexico does not have a national solid waste information system, a method to locate theseweak spots needs to be developed. With the use of the weak spots a method can be developed to select the potential locations for sanitary landfills that also takes the social, economical and legal constraintsinto account. The following research question is formulated: What are the weak spots in the current waste infrastructure network in Mexico and, based on this, where should strategic investment be madeto improve waste disposal? By answering this question, information will be provided on the issues withthe management of waste in Mexico with a focus on the areas of the weak spots and the locations where investment can be made to develop new sanitary landfills.

To detect the weak spots, a set of factors of different scenarios were developed, scored, overlaid, and visualised in maps. Regions that have the lowest score were detected as weak spots. To select the potential locations for investment in new sanitary landfills a spatial decision support system (SDSS) was developed and implemented as a QGIS plugin. The weak spots that corresponded to urban areas were used for analysis in the SDSS. This is due to the fact that it is more economically beneficial to construct sanitary landfills in urban areas.

The weak spot analysis showed that the southern region of Mexico, especially the state of Oaxaca, hadthe highest deficiencies in waste infrastructure. With the output from the QGIS SDSS plugin we are able to determine potential areas for new sanitary landfills in an automated manner.

This research has resulted in the visualisation of the weak spots in the Mexican waste infrastructure and the selection of potential locations where investment can be made for the construction of new sanitary landfills. The approach for locating the weak spots of the waste infrastructure can be used to find the weak spots in other types of infrastructure on a state and country scale in Mexico. The QGIS SDSS plugin could also be used to locate sanitary landfills in Mexico that violate the standards and regulations. The approach used to develop methods to detect the weak spots in the waste infrastructure and select potential locations for investment into new sanitary landfills could be used as a model for other countries to develop their specific approaches.

In recent years, there has been a growing necessity for 3D geoinformation in urban planning and infrastructure management to provide a more realistic representation of urban areas and the built environment. A key concept in public infrastructure management is Life Cycle Asset Management (LCAM), which aims to improve the decision making in each phase of the life cycle of infrastructure assets, such as road and utility networks, civil structures, and green areas. Traditional systems in LCAM are limited in terms of analysis and visualization opportunities due to the use of simpler tools like tables. In this respect, Geographic Information System (GIS) solutions have been widely integrated in LCAM to optimise the administration and monitoring of infrastructure assets. The incursion of semantic 3D models complements the use of GIS by introducing new and innovative modelling and visualization methods. As one of the most common design techniques in the building and construction industry, Building Information Modelling (BIM) facilitates the generation of multidimensional models to describe the physical and functional characteristics of built objects. This research studies the integration of 3D BIM models in a Web GIS system for public space management to improve the procedure in the maintenance phase of LCAM. The goal is to solve the challenges related to the acquisition, processing, and visualization of 3D models. The thesis outlines the process of the development of a 3D prototype in an attempt to demonstrate a possible solution for the integration of BIM models in an existing GIS application. The research starts with a scientific literature review to familiarise with the LCAM concept, Web GIS, and semantic 3D models. Then, the stakeholders in the project are identified and their requirements with regard to the functional capabilities of the prototype are gathered in order to create a design concept. Consequently, the BIM model used in this study is presented and processed to comply with the Dutch national standards for inspection and maintenance. The prototype is developed on the basis of Web Graphics Library (WebGL), a technology for web rendering of interactive 3D graphics and animations supported by all modern web browsers. At the end of the development process, the prototype is evaluated by experts in the LCAM and BIM fields to assess its usability by means of a questionnaire survey. The input from the participants in the survey is essential for the further improvement of the prototype and its release as fully functional product.