Emotional maps

What are emotional maps?

Involve your citizens actively

The Emotional Map is a tool that offers the opportunity to actively involve citizens in gathering information and opinions about the localities in which they live. It is a tool for the participatory planning of public spaces.

How to use the results?

Municipalities most often use the results as supporting documents for planning investment projects, creating transport concepts, or providing information to municipal police.

Process

Beginning

After the initial contact and agreeing on the details of our cooperation, we will define together the questions to be answered by the interviewees and the scope of the area to be mapped (housing estate, urban district, the whole city).

Usually there are 5 – 6 questions, which can be of two types:

General questions

  • Where do you feel comfortable?
  • Where do you play sports?
  • Where do you feel unsafe?

Specific questions

  • Where do you have a parking problem?
  • Where can’t you get to using public transport?
  • Which services do you think are missing in Březina housing estate?

Data collection – online or offline?

The next step is the mapping itself. This can take two forms. Both can be done simultaneously, or you can choose just one, depending on which way of reaching out to citizens suits you better. Combining the methods will ensure a greater reach of the mapping and make the results more relevant and representative.

Offline version

The mapping is done directly with the inhabitants of the municipality in various meetings or debates with citizens (but you have to organise these).

Online version

Another option is to create an online version of the questionnaire that will run on our website. You can direct your citizens to it using the municipality’s website and the local newsletter. The map can be embedded on your site using iFrame, etc. Users can then complete the map from the comfort of their own home.

Take a look at a sample of such an application.

Analysis and results

We will process the collected data from both options in a geographic information system (GIS), evaluate it and create summary maps for each question.

We will provide you with basic summary maps, the raw collected data in a GIS compatible format (shapefile or GeoJSON), a preview of respondent demographics, a list of comments with GPS coordinates, and a web-based preview of the results that will be on the site where the data collection was previously conducted.

Choose a suitable variant from the price list

We offer our services in basic and extended versions. But we are also able to meet your specific requirements and prepare an individual offer for you.

Basic

400 EUR

800 EUR

Individual

Price by agreement

More than 10 years of experience throughout the Czech Republic and abroad

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Department of Geoinformatics, Palacky University Olomouc

“Emotion maps have been used in our research activities in cooperation with public administration several times. I very much appreciate the possibility to customise the application for a given purpose. This has allowed us to have an intuitive tool for primary school pupils to map problem areas around their school. For the second time, we used the app to assess mosquito activity in Litovelsko Pomoravje as perceived by ordinary citizens and tourists. Last but not least, there is also great communication with suppliers.”

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Mott MacDonald

“We’ve worked with emotional maps twice before, and we’ve always had quite specific requirements. They have always been helpful, the map has worked great on both computer and phone, and we have collected almost 4000 suggestions. The cooperation was fast and flexible, we will definitely be happy to return in the future.”

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National Healthy Cities Network

“Emotional maps are a great tool for public engagement. Members of the National Healthy Cities Network (www.zdravamesta.cz) use them extensively both at live events and online. It is a proven method of participation that is intuitive for citizens and does not require any complicated training or explanation. As a result, cities use the map to get citizens’ feedback on the selected area – which can be general or thematic (safety, accessibility, leisure opportunities, etc.). This is a valuable basis for further urban development planning.”

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City of Přeštice (CZ)

“In 2023, the City of Přeštice used the Emotional Maps, which provided important feedback from its citizens. We have learned about places that need repair, discovered locations with untapped potential, or those that need change. The project was very valuable and provided a lot of input that can be useful in the development of the new strategic plan.”

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Studio MEZIDOMY

“To work with space, it is important to have an overview of how users perceive it. The entries in the emotional map give us a very detailed picture of this. We also tried them for interiors and they worked well there too.”

Contact us

You can contact us by email: jirkapanek@gmail.com 

You will receive a quotation based on your requirements.

Academic papers

Lehnert, M., Geletič, J., Kopp, J., Brabec, M., Jurek, M., & Pánek, J. (2021). Comparison between mental mapping and land surface temperature in two Czech cities: a new perspective on indication of locations prone to heat stressBuilding and Environment203, 108090.

Lehnert, M., Pánek, J., Kopp, J., Geletič, J., Květoňová, V., & Jurek, M. (2023). Thermal comfort in urban areas on hot summer days and its improvement through participatory mapping:

A case study of two Central European cities. Landscape and Urban Planning233, 104713.

Vasilev, M., Pritchard, R., Jonsson, T., & Panek, J. (2023). An exploration of multiuser perceptions of a Norwegian Complete Streets modification using interim design strategiesCase studies on transport policy13, 101058.

Linhartová, P., Ivan, I., & Pánek, J. (2022). Visualising residents’ fear of crime with recorded crime data from four Czech citiesJournal of Maps18(1), 26-32.

Suslowicz, J., & Brömmelstroet, M. T. (2024). Playing in Traffic? Exploring the Intersection of Platforms, Agency, and Space in Bicycle Courier Mobilities. Journal of Urban Technology, 1-27.

Our team

Jiří Pánek

Ondřej Růžička

Frequently asked questions