Hamburg makes DIPAS open source application available nationwide

10 July 2023

Munich, Bremen and Leipzig now using software for digital citizen participation

Hamburg is making DIPAS available to other towns and cities in Germany as a geodata-based open source application after Munich, Leipzig and Bremen began using the software, a press release said Thursday (June 29, 2023). The Ministry for Housing and Urban Development, the State Office for Geoinformation and Surveying (LGV) and Dataport AöR are helping others launch the software and develop it with users. DIPAS is the first digital system without media discontinuity for citizen participation online and locally.

DIPAS shaping Hamburg's administration

"DIPAS shows that public administration can also develop software and successfully shape digitalisation," said Karen Pein, Senator for Housing and Urban Development. The software was developed by the City of Hamburg and the CityScienceLab at HafenCity University. The digital planning tables "CityScopes", a tool for the visual documentation of architecture and urban development, which are brought together via an online participation system. The public can access digital maps, aerial photographs, plans, 3D models and geodata on various projects. The software is available for download as an open source application on the Open CoDE platform and can be operated on the municipalities' own digital infrastructures. Dataport also offers an alternative "Software as a Service" solution. DIPAS can be used online via the Dataport servers. The DIPAS_navigator gives an overview of earlier and current procedures.

Optimising digital citizen participation together

Emphasis is on a tool-related application and development community. "Towns and cities can develop DIPAS jointly, make requirements on the software or get support with technical issues," said Silke Tessmann-Storch, Member of the Board at Dataport. A similar procedure has been successfully applied to the Masterportal software, which Hamburg also developed. "DIPAS benefits not only from the Masterportal online map, but also from the experience gained with implementing the Masterportal," adds Thomas Eichhorn, Managing Director of LGV.
nj/mm/sb