The platform
Until recently, the World Heritage Centre has lacked a single-access, open-to-all online platform where reliable
geospatial data
for World Heritage can be used for monitoring, analysis and decision-making. The
World Heritage Online Map Platform
project, supported by the
Government of Flanders (Belgium)
since 2021, addresses this need.
The
World Heritage Online Map Platform
(WHOMP) is an online GIS monitoring tool for World Heritage, linked to existing UNESCO databases, displaying georeferenced boundaries of World Heritage sites and their buffer zones. The project started with Europe and North America as a pilot region, harnessing synergies with the
Third Cycle of Periodic Reporting under the Convention
between 2022 and 2023 the
Retrospective Inventory
project. States Parties concerned were invited to submit georeferenced maps of their World Heritage properties as inscribed by the World Heritage Committee. A verification phase followed: only those layers that do not show any deviation from the maps as adopted by the World Heritage Committee are integrated into the newly developed platform. If the layers present discrepancies, the project team will contact the State Party to rectify the data.
The platform seeks to facilitate the understanding of the boundaries of the World Heritage properties and their buffer zones, thus allowing better and earlier identification of potential impacts on their Outstanding Universal Value and helping States Parties to improve the monitoring of the state of conservation of the properties on their territory. This project represents a direct contribution to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and in particular to target 11.4 ‘Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world cultural and natural heritage’.
With the mobilisation of additional resources, other layers of data can be added to the system, starting with the factors affecting properties as listed in the
State of Conservation Information System
.
Guidelines on the provision of geospatial World Heritage data
are made available to States Parties to provide assistance, if needed, in the digitisation of World Heritage boundaries and buffer zones.
The platform serves to:
Strengthen the protection
of the Outstanding Universal Value of World Heritage properties by providing State Parties with an online geographic information system to improve
monitoring
of the state of conservation.
Improve the
quality
and
consistency
of the maps of World Heritage properties, to
facilitate access
to and
analysis
of World Heritage geographic data, to develop adequate
management systems
.
Facilitate the planning
and preparation of more accurate and complex Heritage Impact Assessments, Environmental Impact Assessments, and other relevant documents based on
accessible and accurate
maps
of World Heritage and buffer zones boundaries.
Assist
project developers (including private sector) to better understand the different boundaries of World Heritage protection, and guide them in the assessment of projects in or in the vicinity of a World Heritage property (a tool directly relevant for the implementation of the
No-Go commitments
or
wind energy projects
).
If you would like to contact the project team, please write to
wh-gis@unesco.org
.
![](https://whc.unesco.org/uploads/activities/documents/activity-13-306.png)