Tongeren: Connected by GIS

What happens when GIS is no longer a standalone tool, but a strategic foundation for a city? When location intelligence is no longer fragmented across individual projects, but grows into a shared basis for decision-making, collaboration, and day-to-day management?

In the City of Tongeren-Borgloon, this is not a future vision but a reality. Here, GIS is embedded in the city’s DNA and acts as a shared geographic language that connects people, information, and decisions. Connected by GIS is more than a StoryMap: it shows what becomes possible when GIS is used as a coherent foundation for the organization. The result is an operation with better-informed decisions, stronger collaboration, and greater resilience.

 GIS is part of a city’s DNA. It connects departments, data, and policy. Working without GIS is like looking for answers without mapping the question, deploying resources without knowing exactly where the needs lie, or managing a city without insight into its space, data, and dynamics…Its mission is, of course, to deliver a coordinated operational response across Luxembourg, with GIS at the very heart of this strategy.
Vicky Verscheijden

This vision becomes tangible throughout the StoryMap. It is not an abstract narrative, but a rich overview of dozens of concrete applications already used today by almost all city departments. From heritage and archives to mobility, environment, safety, events, buildings, green space management, and public services, location is the common starting point everywhere.

Within Tongeren-Borgloon, GIS is far more than “a map.” It is an intelligent information system where historical cartography, current data, and future plans come together. The primitive cadastre of the 19th century sits alongside contemporary aerial imagery, Roman roads alongside modern mobility analyses, and heritage inventories alongside current urban planning schemes.

Because all this information is built on the same geographic foundation, departments quite literally speak the same language. This makes collaboration easier, decisions better substantiated, and policy choices more transparent.

What truly sets Tongeren-Borgloon apart is the combination of strategic depth and everyday usability. GIS supports complex analyses related to heritage, spatial planning, infrastructure, and climate, while at the same time enabling very practical, field-based processes.

Think of clear gritting routes during winter conditions, planning markets and fairs, inventorying buildings and meters through mobile apps, managing green maintenance, or tracking reports in public space. GIS is not an added layer here, but a natural and integral part of daily operations.

That same philosophy of connection and sharing is also reflected in the geoportal, or Geoloket GIS3700, the city’s official geoportal. Through this platform, anyone can explore a wide range of map content, structured around dozens of themes. The portal combines the city’s own datasets with relevant external sources, making the territory of Tongeren accessible and understandable for citizens, staff, and partners alike.

For departments with particularly rich cartographic content, such as tourism and the city archive, dedicated geosites have even been created. This keeps information clear and tailored to specific audiences, without losing coherence with the broader whole.

The breadth of content within GIS3700 is impressive. It ranges from practical applications such as AED locations, parking information, gritting routes, and roadworks, to in-depth thematic maps on heritage, the Roman period, the Middle Ages, landscape, water management, climate, and biodiversity.

By openly sharing its StoryMap, geoportal, and applications, Tongeren-Borgloon takes on a clear exemplary role within the local government landscape. The city does not show what GIS could mean in theory, but what it delivers in practice when there is a clear vision, embraced across the organization and supported by expertise.

Under the guidance of GIS advisor Vicky Verscheijden, GIS has grown into a fixed component of the city’s DNA. Not as an end in itself, but as a practical tool to enable better collaboration between departments, smarter planning, and a deeper understanding of the city.

Connected by GIS was developed at the request of Alderman Eddy Manet, responsible for Housing, Mobility, ICT, Digitalization, and GIS. The aim of the presentation is to introduce GIS to newly appointed members of the executive and municipal council following the Tongeren-Borgloon merger.

Connected by GIS is more than a StoryMap. It demonstrates what becomes possible when GIS is used as a strategic foundation rather than a collection of isolated projects: better-informed decisions, stronger collaboration, and a more resilient organization.

For local governments looking to evolve from separate GIS initiatives to a coherent approach, the message from Tongeren-Borgloon is clear: start from a single shared geographic foundation, invest in people and expertise, and let location intelligence be the connecting force within the organization.

This consistent vision, broad adoption, and willingness to share experiences make Tongeren-Borgloon not only a reference in the use of ArcGIS, but also a source of inspiration for cities and municipalities everywhere.