Gokul Gopan
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Plan4Better GOAT Platform

GIS Internship — Plan4Better GmbH

InternshipAccessibilityIsochronesPostGISGOAT

Plan4Better GmbH · Munich, Germany · January 2024 – September 2024

Formal MSc Internship (Pflichtpraktikum) — RWTH Aachen University
Supervised by Dr.-Ing. Andreas Witte & Prof. Dr.-Ing. Tobias Kuhnimhof

About Plan4Better & GOAT

Plan4Better is a Munich-based company specialising in data-driven planning tools for sustainable mobility and urban planning. Their flagship product, GOAT, is an open-source WebGIS platform for integrated urban and transport planning.

GOAT provides isochrone and multi-isochrone generation, public transport quality classes (ÖV-Güteklassen), Walkability Index calculation, local accessibility heatmaps, active mobility routing and average departure counts for public transport stops.

Projects Undertaken

Specific analysis outputs and client maps are not shown to respect client confidentiality.

Accessibility & Walkability Analysis — Augsburg

Population density analysis, public transport quality class assessment, POI accessibility analysis and heatmaps, and Walkability Index calculation across the study area. Outcome: actionable spatial insights for the city's mobility plan.

Parking Facility Accessibility — Amberg City Centre

Catchment area calculation using driving and walking times, accessibility analysis from parking facilities to key POIs, and isochrone-based gap identification. Outcome: recommendations for optimising parking locations.

Supplemental Parking Analysis — POI to Car Park Walking Distances, Amberg

Digitised parking locations from a PDF source in QGIS, independent walking-distance analysis from POIs to car parks, isochrones for multiple walking-time thresholds. Outcome: insights into alignment between parking and urban mobility needs.

Mobility Analysis — Hassels & Reisholz, Düsseldorf

Land use suitability assessment for shared mobility stations, public transport quality and accessibility evaluation, and scenario analysis for introducing new mobility hubs. Outcome: evidence base for e-scooter and e-bike expansion.

Pedestrian Network Isochrones vs. Circular Buffers — Augsburg

Modified SQL scripts to implement pedestrian network isochrones within the GOAT backend, compared accessibility results under both approaches, and demonstrated measurable differences between Euclidean and network-based catchments. Outcome: more accurate accessibility measurements for transport planning.

Technical Skills Applied

PostgreSQL PostGIS Python QGIS GOAT Isochrones ÖV-Güteklassen Walkability Index Accessibility Analysis Mobility Planning