Location Analysis for Bus Stops in Hamburg with WebGIS GOAT

The systematic prioritization and barrier-free retrofit of approximately 2,400 bus stops presents a massive planning and logistical challenge. Given limited resources, it’s crucial to initiate measures where they will have the greatest impact—both in terms of accessibility and cost-efficiency. To this end, the Hamburg State Agency for Roads, Bridges and Waterways (LSBG) is pursuing a fully digital, serial planning approach to ensure efficiency and scalability. The core challenge lies in the sheer number of individual stops and their complex evaluation criteria—from spatial integration into the urban fabric, to accessibility, to sociodemographic factors. Only a highly automated, data-driven, holistic approach can make this complexity manageable.

This is where Plan4Better comes in: a web-based solution for clustering prioritized sites, integrating all relevant data (e.g. timetables, sociodemographics and accessibility) and enabling a robust multi-criteria analysis—from initial preliminary planning to on-the-ground implementation within the LOOPED network. The solution is built on the WebGIS GOAT platform, which allows complex indicators to be calculated and visualized in a multi-stakeholder environment. The following GOAT components are being developed for the multi-criteria analysis:

• Development of a dynamic workflow builder to combine and automate various analysis and data-processing steps

• Expansion of GOAT’s toolbox with new analysis tools such as clustering (KMeans, Nearest Neighbors), regression analyses and custom formula calculations

• Enhancement of GOAT’s dashboard functionality to provide the visualization modules required for the multi-criteria analysis

Worklows flowchart