Bocholt. With its extensive network of trails and paths along the Dutch border, the Münsterland is a popular destination for cyclists, hikers and skaters. Thanks to the efforts of a working group from Bocholt, Aalten und Winterswijk, planning and conducting tours could become even easier in future. This team prepares and formats geographic data, used for landscape and city maps, for tourists.

The group’s goal is to create a digital hiking map. This convenient resource could be uploaded to a PDA or mobile phone from the internet for use during a tour. “First, we plan to plot a test path which crosses the border between Bocholt and the Dutch communities of Aalten and Winterswijk”, says Udo Geidies, co-ordinator with the city of Bocholt. Aerial photographs and city maps will be featured to guide future users in the right direction. But that isn’t all. Other useful services are also conceivable, including information on attractions along the path, notes on nearby museums, country stores, restaurants, picnic and rest areas, lookout points, bus routes, etc. Geidies: “Initially, 10 to 15 of these so-called attractions will be integrated into the test route.” The map will be available in three language versions: German, Dutch and English. According to Geidies, the first test runs started in early 2007.

Once developed, digital hiking guides could also be helpful in the implementation of the “ILEK”, the Integrated Rural Development Concept (Integrierten Ländlichen Entwicklungskonzept), a programme involving several communities from Borken county. Visitors could have the opportunity to borrow PDAs featuring maps and information from the tourism offices in each city involved. The first challenge, according to Geidies, is to resolve any technical problems. The existing German and Dutch map material is based on different standards and needs to be aligned. Relevant target groups are currently being defined.

Read an interview with Udo Geidies on the project in Newsletter X-Border-GDI Q1 2006

Speech of the Aalten, Bocholt and Winterswijk city councils on cross-border cooperation during the E-RIgG project presentation in Bocholt, 14 February 2007. Download >>