Mapping tool
Within the Sharepair project, our goal was to present a searchable map of local repair initiatives in all regions of our project. The result is a map including over 3000 repair locations spread across mainly Belgium and The Netherlands, with more to come in the UK.
The mapping tool can be consulted as a stand alone tool but can also be embedded (in 2 different ways - see further) in any other website.
What is the mapping tool?
With Repair Maps we aim to map all repair initiatives, organizations or professionals in the entire project region (North-West Europe).
The goals are to:
- provide citizens with an overview of all repair initiatives in the area;
- give visibility to local repair initiatives;
- use the collected data for analytical purposes;
- provide a mapping tool that can be integrated in other platforms (city platforms, Repair Connects…)
How did the current tool come to life?
To launch our Repair Map, a data collection exercise was conducted by several project partners (Repair Together, Repair & Share, Restarters, cities of Leuven, Roeselare, Apeldoorn, Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve...). Visits of repair businesses and repair cafés were combined with desk research to get a first overview of repair actors in dedicated regions.
All repair initiatives were then uploaded into a custom made software platform, where the data can be managed and updated.
You can find the actual result below this section. Don't hesitate to test it out by:
- using the search bar to search for a specific repair initiative that you know
- filter the results by 'type of repair initiative' to see who is active in your neighbourhood
- filter the results by a specific product category
- zooming in and out on the map, to see how results change
Look below the embedded map for more practical info.
Keeping the map up-to-date
Of course, the list of repair organizations on the map is not complete. Repair Maps wants to engage local repair actors and citizens to add more points-of-interest on the map, and to suggest corrections to existing locations if needed.
Together, we can keep the overview up-to-date.
Join the mapping tool with your region
Repair Maps is a project developed within the Interreg-NWE project Sharepair, and is open to use in any region.
We are very eager to collect data on repair initiatives in regions outside of Belgium, UK, the Netherlands, so don't hesitate to get in touch. There are 2 concrete options to join Repair Maps:
- Use our back-end platform as a data source like Repair & Share does for Flanders for example
- Continue working in your own dataplatform and connect it with the ORDP (Open Repair Data Platform) we have developed within Sharepair, like Restarters does for their groups for example. This can be done via an API connection (allowing a realtime data connection), or via regular manual imports
The final option is of course just adding individual repair locations in any region manually, via the front-end of the website. Any person can do this without an account.
Embed the map on your own website
Once you will share your data with us in any of the described ways, the repair initiatives will appear on mapping.sharepair.org.
But it doesn't stop there. You can insert a custom version of the map in your own website. Again, there are 2 possible ways to do this:
- embed the map via a simple iframe
- embed the map as a Vue Component