Zuid-Hollands Landschap (ZHL) is an non-governmental organization with a not-for-profit goal: to protect and preserve the natural landscape in the Dutch province South-Holland. It has a charitable status and is entirely funded by donations. ZHL purchase land and turn it into nature preserves. Those grounds are maintained and opened to the public.
In South-Holland, purchasing lands for nature preserve is a difficult task. In each Dutch province a minimum of 12 procent of nature is protected. Apart from South-Holland where we can hardly scramble and protect 6 procent of our surroundings. Our sister company WADM was asked to rally the people. And came up with the idea of protecting square meters of nature. By choosing them directly in Google Maps. Online and real time claiming and donating.
Our biggest challenge was transforming 109 nature preserves into a clickable grid within Google Maps. We made a study to research the viability of such a feat with focus on speed and usability. Existing geotechnical methods were analyzed to determine how to exactly display the contours of geographical positions. We tested various grids to see what worked best; hexagons, squares or rectangles. After all, we had to cover 54 million square meters (about 6.600 soccer fields) of nature in a single clickable map.
Once we finished up our research we started programming two separate desktop and mobile platforms containing a real-time reservation system - much like you would book a hotel room or flight tickets. The content management is offered via Wordpress CMS. Website visitors find their favorite nature area based on postal code or location tracking and click on square meters to preserve them. This part is finished by online payment and order processing with automatic address validation. Donors receive an email confirmation with a link to a personal webpage showing the area of nature they are now preserving. This personal page can be shared on Facebook and Twitter, to create or enhance organic campaign exposure.
Next to the user platform we also developed a management dashboard for ZHL to monitor and analyze statistics and order processing. Both platforms were rigidly tested over the cours of one month by all parties involved before ’going live’. The website also contained HotJar live user behavior monitoring, which has led to multiple adjustments to enhance conversion rates.
We’re in the business of digitally enhancing your company or brand. By truly interfacing. And using our programming prowess to transform those interfaces into interaction. Like the case above. Are you wondering if we can ‘crack your case’ as well? Then simply contact Arno:
