Introducing the Bauhaus of the Seas Sails Geospatial Platform: A Spatially Enabled Mapping Framework for Analyzing Complex Territories

This paper introduces an early version and ongoing development of a geospatial platform, developed for the Bauhaus of the Seas Sails, one of six lighthouse projects from the ‘New European Bauhaus’ (EU policy and funding initiative). This platform is a tool designed to analyze the coastal regions such as port-city territories, aimed at supporting sustainable development. The platform integrates open-access geospatial data with sustainability, aesthetics, inclusivity data, and narratives from land-sea interactions, enabling data-driven decision-making. Two ongoing research introduced in this paper, showcases the platform’s usability and versatility: one investigates health disparities in Rhine Watershed cities, leveraging its multi-scalar and cross-border capabilities; the other explores transnational spatial planning in the Flemish-Dutch Delta, fostering stakeholder collaboration. Through testing and development of the platform using different research approaches, the aim is to create a dialogue between spatial experts, for positioning the geospatial platform as a valuable resource for promoting sustainable development in coastal regions, through enhanced data visualization, analysis, and knowledge sharing. Since the Bauhaus of the Seas Sails geospatial platform is still a work in progress, this paper introduces the platform with the focus on refining and optimizing its capabilities. The aim is to effectively integrate and visualize diverse geospatial data, ensuring and building upon the interplay with local values, and support multi-scalar, cross-border, and transnational spatial planning.