The Places tool is a fun and appealing interactive mapping tool. Participants can post pins on the map, which can include a comment and image, and like other user’s pins in the Activity feed. With a modern interface and clean aesthetic, Places is highly engaging and encourage place-based community engagement.
The Places tool is used for a variety of activities:
Determining problem areas in the community, such as traffic congestion, roadwork improvement areas, or under-served public transport routes.
Finding locations for new developments, such as parks and green spaces, housing, or business precincts.
Displaying pinned locations, for parks, campgrounds, walking trails, public art, etc.
Pinning locations for endangered, protected, or dangerous animal species and environmental impact concerns.
Reporting temporary issues in the community, such as graffiti, potholes, or areas in need of public works.
The Places tool includes several helpful features, which are listed below, to help you create an interesting and interactive engagement activity.
Create or Upload Custom Layers
The Places tool allows admins to create custom map layers using drawing tools or by uploading WMS, Shapefile, KML, or GeoJSON layers. These options provide custom control over your map. You can, for example:
Use the polygon and rectangle drawing tools to restrict pin placing within specific boundaries
Use the line drawing tool to document proposed traffic routes or walking trails
Upload Shapefile or KML layers to provide extensive information relevant to your consultation, such as electoral boundaries, infrastructure development opportunities, pins of landmarks or public services, and zonal information.
Upload WMS layer to include location-based information and custom image overlays, such as concept designs, construction plans, topographical information, and planned works.
Use Admin Pins
Administrators can pre-populate the Places map with pins to showcase areas of interest of provide information, such as:
Existing road works or areas of construction
Marking parks, trails, camp sites, or other outdoor activities
Points of interest like heritage sites or council offices
Showcase events, festival sites, public artworks, or walking tours
You can add admin pins easily; simply use a specific pin to mark your points of interest and then hide the pin before you publish the tool so no participants can use it.
Add Questions
Admins can add questions to the Places tool, for participants to answer when they are submitting a pin. This adds another dimension to the contribution, allowing your participants to further interact with you and for you to gain greater insights.
The questions you add apply to all pin categories, so it’s best to make them basic follow-up questions, such as “Please provide more detail about this location?” or “Why do you believe this is the best location?” We also recommend no more than three questions to avoid participants getting tired of the activity.
Design and Usability
We have designed the Places tool to be visually appealing, easy to use across multiple devices, and focused on community participation. When participants open the activity, a pop-up window explains the map's purpose and methods.
We have also made the Activity feed prominent to encourage users to browse other participants pins, images, and comments, and like any posts that resonate with them.
Posting a pin is an intuitive experience, with a prominent New pin button, and clear interface when choosing their pin and writing their comment. We encourage you to allow images to add that extra visual appeal so other people are encouraged to engage with the tool.
Share and Embed
The Places tool is a fun and interactive activity, so it is a great option when encouraging greater participation. Because it is easy to use and doesn’t take much time to contribute, it can help build your community of participants.
As such, they can be highly effective tools to share on social media sites or your corporate website. The Places tool allows you to link to the standalone tool page or embed it using an iframe or embed code.